Superstitions and customs vary greatly in different countries and
periods, but they all bear somehow a strong family resemblance.
For instance, one old English proverb runs: "Blest be the bride that
the sun shines on," yet in Germany a bride prays for rain, believing
that a new joy comes with each raindrop, and that then all her tears
will be shed before, and not after, her wedding. There, too, it used to
be the custom to take a lot of old dishes to the door of the bride's
house and break them to pieces in the street, and if by any chance one
escaped, it was accepted as a bad omen.
In China, however, when a marriage was being arranged, and any article
of value, such as a vase or a bowl, was broken the ceremony was
postponed.
At the wedding feast in Scandinavia someone makes a speech or sings
a song, which ends up in a tremendous noise, and this is the signal
for a general peal of laughter and for the guests to present their
congratulations to the newly-wedded couple.
The Slavs pour a tankard of beer over the bridegroom's horse for luck,
and in the North of England, the maid pours a kettle of hot water over
the doorstep to ensure that another wedding will take place ere long
from the same house.
A curious idea among the Burmese is that people born on the same day of
the week must not marry, and that if they defy the Fates their union
will be marked by much ill-luck.
To prevent these disastrous marriages, every girl carries a record
of her birthday in her name, each day of the week having a letter
belonging to it, and all children are called by a name that begins with
that letter.
In New Guinea it is always Leap Year, for in that island the men
consider it to be beneath their dignity to notice women, much less to
make overtures of marriage to them. The proposing is left to the women
to do. When a New Guinea woman falls in love with a man she sends a
piece of string to his sister, or, if he has no sister, to his mother
or some other lady relative.
Then the lady who receives the string tells the man that the particular
woman is in love with him. No courting, however, follows. If he thinks
he would like to wed the woman he meets her alone and they arrange
matters.