Before a wedding the bride's father sends, by the barber, a cocoanut
and a silver ring tied round it with a yellow thread. On the thread
are seven, nine, eleven or thirteen knots, signifying the number of
days to elapse before the ceremony. The barber on his arrival stands
outside the door of the house, and the bridegroom's father sends
round to all the families of his caste. The men go to the house and
the women come singing to the barber, and rub turmeric on the boy. A
married woman touches the cocoanut and waves a lighted lamp seven
times round the bridegroom's head. This is meant to scare off evil
spirits. On arrival at the bride's village the bridegroom touches
the marriage-shed with the branch of a _ber_ or wild plum tree. The
mother of the bride gives him some sugar, rubs lamp-black on his
eyes and twists his nose. The bride and bridegroom are seated side by
side on wooden boards, and after the caste priest (Sadh) has chanted
some sacred verses, water is poured nine times on to the palms of
the bridegroom, and he drinks it. They do not perform the ceremony
of walking round the sacred pole. Girls are usually married at a very
early age, sometimes when they are only a few months old. Subsequently,
when the bridegroom comes to take his bride, her family present her
with clothing and a spinning-wheel, this implement being still in
favour among the Bishnois. When a widow is to be married again she
is taken to her new husband's house at night, and there grinds a
flour-mill five times, being afterwards presented with lac bangles.