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Tra Ducci On
Tra Ducci On
on the part of the servants, tore her away half dead whith
fear from the bosom of her trembling mother. The custom
is said still to preavail to a great extent among the Hindud.
It may well do so, for we find what must, as we shall show,
be held to be the form of capture, prescribed as a
marriage ceremonyto the Hindus in the Sutras. It prevails
among the Khonds in the hill tracts of Orissa. The
Marriage being agreed upon, a feast, to which the families
of the parties equally contribute, is prepared at the
dwelling of the bride.
"To the feast", says Major MPherson, "succeded dancing
and song. When the night is far spent, the principals in the
scence are raised by an uncle af each upon his shoulder,
and borne through the dance. The burdens are suddenly
exchanged, and the uncle of the youth disappears with the
bride. The assembly divides into two parties; the friends of
the bride endeavour to arrest, those of the bridegroom to
cover her flight, and men, women,and children, mingle in
mock conflict, which is often carried to great lengths." "On
one occasion," says Major General Campbell," I heard
loud cries procceding from a village close at hand.
Fearing some quarrel, I rode to the spot, and there I saw a
man bearing away upon his back something enveloped in
an ample covering of scarlet cloth; he was surrounded by
twenty or thirty Young fellows, and by them protected from
the desperate attacks made upon him by a party of Young
women. On seeking an explanation of this novel scene, I
was told that the man had just been married, and his
precios burden was his blooming bride, whom he was
conveying to his own village. Her youthful friends as, it
appears, is the custom were seeking to regain possession
of her, and hurled stones and bamboos at the head of the
devoted bridegroom, until he reached the confines of the
his own village. Then the tables were turned, and the bride
was fairly won; and off her young friends scampered,
screamming and laughing, but not relaxing their speed till
they reached their own village. The custom may be
men, to carry off the lady by force; and by this process she
becomes his lawful wife. The custom also prevailed till a
recent date in Wales. Lord Kames says that the following
marriage ceremony was in his day, or at least had till
shortly before been customary among the Welsh. On the
morning of the wedding day, the bridegroom,
accompanied with his friends on horseback, demands the
bride. Her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a
positive refusal, upon which a mock scuffle ensues. The
bride, mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off
and is pursued by the bridegroom and his friends, with
loud shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to
see two or three hundred sturdy CambroBritons riding at
full speed, crossing and jostling to the no small
amusemant of the spectators. When they have fatigued
themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to
overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the
scene is concluded with feasting and festivity. Some such
picture we sholuld have from De Hell had he expanded his
account of the mock scuffle among the Kalmucks of the
hordes of the bride and bridegroom.
We have now found the custom in various parts of Europe
and Asia; it occurs also in Africa and in America.
Lord Kames vouches for the custom among the Inland
Negroes. When the preliminares of the marriage are
adjusted, the bridegroom with a number of his companions
set out at night and surround the house of the bride as if
intending to carry her off by force; she and her female
attendants pretending to make all posible resistance, cry
aloud for help, but no person appears. Speke mentions an
incident which he observed in Karague, and which may
have been the sequel to a capture. At night, he says, I was
struck by surprise to see a long noisy procession pass by
where I sat, led by some men who carried on their
shoulders a woman covered up in a blackened skin. On
inquir, however, I Heard she was being taken to the hut of
her espoused, where bundling fashion she would be putt o