Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1891 — Marriage in Sumatra. [ARTICLE]

Marriage in Sumatra.

Harper’s Bazar. Among Kubus of Sumatra the tender passion is most prosaicallv dealt with. It would seem that delicate susceptibilities have but slight chance of development among so untidy, so thriftless a people. Their lives are seldom marked by progress; they seem content to go on their ways extictlv as their forefathers and foremotners have traveled. Very simple indeed is the marriage ceremony. A Lubu youth, having settled in his own mind his choice, interviews the parents of the maiden, mentioning what he can offer in return. If late bargains with the itinerant trader have been very good he may have in hand a knife, a spear or some strips of gay cloth —possibly money, if he has acted as guide or burden-bearer to travelers; there also may be dammar and beeswax, rare fruits and favorite animals for food (a dainty snake or nimble lizard), all most acceptable in the eyes of the father and nouse-mother. Should this queer endowment fund be satisfactorily large, neighbors are called together, who are seated with due formality under a tree. The father of the maiden then publicly announces his consent to the betrothal, shows the presents received from the young man, and expresses his pleasure. t