Part 17 (1/2)
The above table will give a general idea of the natural encrease of the Gipsies. The reader can make what allowances he pleases, for ages at time of marriage, intervals between births, twins, deaths, or numbers of children born. By this table, the Gipsy, by marrying at twenty years of age, would, when 54 years old, have a ”following” of no less than 78 souls. ”There is one of the divine laws,” said I to a Gipsy, ”which the Gipsies obey more than any other people.” ”What is that?” replied he, with great gravity. ”The command to 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish (but not subdue) the earth.'” Even five generations can be obtained from the male, and six from the female Gipsy, in a century, counting from first-born to first-born. The reader will notice how large are the Gipsy families incidentally mentioned by our author.--ED.
The exact parallel to this custom is to be found in the Gentoo code of laws, translated by Halhed; wherein it is made criminal for ”a man to marry while his elder brother remains unmarried; or when a man marries his daughter to such a person; or where a man gives the younger sister in marriage while the elder sister remains unmarried.”[170] The learned translator of the code considers this custom of the Gentoos of the remotest antiquity, and compares it with that pa.s.sage in the Book of Genesis, where Laban excuses himself to Jacob for having subst.i.tuted Leah for Rachel, in these words, ”It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born.”
[170] Major Archer says that this law is still in force.
The nuptial ceremony of the Gipsies is undoubtedly of the highest antiquity, and would, probably, be one of the first marriage ceremonies observed by mankind, in the very first stages of human society. When we consider the extraordinary length of time the Gipsies have preserved their speech, as a secret among themselves, in the midst of civilized society, all over Europe, while their persons were proscribed and hunted down in every country, like beasts of the chase, we are not at all surprised at their retaining some of their ancient customs; for these, as distinguished from their language, are of easy preservation, under any circ.u.mstances in which they may have been placed. That may much more be said of this ceremony, as there would be an occasion for its almost daily observance. It was wrapped up with their very existence--the choice of their wives, and the love of their offspring--the most important and interesting transactions of their lives; and would, on that account, be one of the longest observed, the least easily forgotten, of their ancient usages.
The nuptial rites of the Scottish Gipsies are, perhaps, unequalled in the history of marriages. At least, I have neither seen nor heard of any marriage ceremony that has the slightest resemblance to it, except the extraordinary benediction which our countryman, Mungo Park, received from the bride at the Moorish wedding in Ali's camp, at Benown; and that of a certain custom practised by the Mandingoes, at Kamalia, in Africa, also mentioned by Park.[171] This custom with the Mandingoes and the Gipsies is nearly the same as that observed by the ancient Hebrews, in the days of Moses, mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy. When we have the manners and customs of every savage tribe hitherto discovered, including even the Hottentots and Abyssinians, described, in grave publications, by adventurous travellers, I can see no reason why there should not be preserved, and exhibited for the inspection of the public, the manners and customs of a barbarous race that have lived so long at our own doors--one more interesting, in some respects, than any yet discovered; and more particularly as marriage is a very important, indeed the most important, inst.i.tution among the inhabitants of any country, whether civilized or in a state of barbarism. How much would not our antiquarians now value authenticated specimens of the language, manners, and customs of the ancient Pictish nation that once inhabited Scotland!
[171] ”I was soon tired,” says Park, ”and had retired into my tent.
When I was sitting, almost asleep, an old woman entered with a wooden bowl in her hand, and signified that she had brought me a present from the bride. Before I could recover from the surprise which this message created, the woman discharged the contents of the bowl full in my face. Finding that it was the same sort of holy water with which, among the Hottentots, a priest is said to sprinkle a new-married couple, I began to suspect that the lady was actuated by mischief or malice; but she gave me seriously to understand that it was a nuptial benediction from the bride's own person; and which, on such occasions, is always received by the young unmarried Moors, as a mark of distinguished favour. This being the case, I wiped my face, and sent my acknowledgment to the lady.”--_Park's Travels, pages 205 and 206._
In describing the marriage ceremony of the Scottish Gipsies, it is scarcely possible to clothe the curious facts in language fit to be perused by every reader. But I must adopt the sentiment of Sir Walter Scott, as given in the Introduction, and ”not be squeamish about delicacies, where knowledge is to be sifted out and acquired.”[172]
[172] Whatever prudes and sn.o.bs may think of this chapter, I believe that the sensible and intelligent reader will agree with me in saying, that the marriage and divorce ceremonies of the Gipsies are historical gems of the most antique and purest water.--ED.
A marriage cup, or bowl, made out of solid wood, and of a capacity to contain about two Scotch pints, or about one gallon, is made use of at the ceremony. After the wedding-party is a.s.sembled, and everything prepared for the occasion, the priest takes the bowl and gives it to the bride, who pa.s.ses urine into it; it is then handed, for a similar purpose, to the bridegroom. After this, the priest takes a quant.i.ty of earth from the ground, and throws it into the bowl, adding sometimes a quant.i.ty of brandy to the mixture. He then stirs the whole together, with a spoon made of a ram's horn, and sometimes with a large ram's horn itself, which he wears suspended from his neck by a string. He then presents the bowl, with its contents, first to the bride, and then to the bridegroom; calling at the same time upon each to separate the mixture in the bowl, if they can. The young couple are then ordered to join hands over the bowl containing the earth, urine, and spirits; when the priest, in an audible voice, and in the Gipsy language, p.r.o.nounces the parties to be husband and wife; and as none can separate the mixture in the bowl, so they, in their persons, cannot be separated till death dissolves their union.
As soon as that part of the ceremony is performed, the couple undress, and repair to their nuptial couch. After remaining there for a considerable time, some of the most confidential relatives of the married couple are admitted to the apartment, as witnesses to the virginity of the bride; certain tokens being produced to the examining friends, at this stage of the ceremony. If all the parties concerned are satisfied, the bride receives a handsome present from the friends, as a mark of their respect for her remaining chaste till the hour of her marriage. This present is, in some instances, a box of a particular construction.[173]
[173] On their return from church, the bride is seated at one extremity of a room, with the unmarried girls by her; the bridegroom on the right, and the father and mother, or those who perform their office, on the left. The male part of the company stand in the corners, singing, and playing on the guitar. About one o'clock, the oldest matron, accompanied by others advanced in years, conducts the bride into the bed-room, which, according to the custom of Spain, is usually a small chamber, without a window, opening into the general apartment. _Tune vetula, manu sud sponsae naturalibus admota membranam, v.u.l.v.ae ori oppositam unguibus scindit et cruorem a plaga fusum linteolo excipit._ The Gitanos without make a loud noise with their whistles, and the girls, striking the door, sing the following couplets, or some other like them:
”Abra vind la puerta Snr. Joaquin Que le voy a vind a poner un panuelito En las manos que tienen que llorar Toditas las callis.”
The bride then returns from the chamber, accompanied by the matrons, and the new-married couple are placed upon a table, where the bride dances, _et coram astantibus linteolum, internerati pudoris indicium explicat_; whilst the company, throwing down their presents of sweetmeats, &c., dance and cry, ”Viva la honra.”--_Bright, on the Spanish Gipsy marriage._
Before the marriage festival begins, four matrons--relations of the contracting parties--are appointed to scrutinize the bride; in which a handkerchief, of the finest French cambric, takes a leading part.
Should she prove frail, she will likely be made away with, in a way that will leave no trace behind. In carrying out some marriage festivals, a procession will take place, led by some vile-looking fellow, bearing, on the end of a long pole, the _dicle_ and unspotted handkerchief; followed by the betrothed and their nearest friends, and a rabble of Gipsies, shouting and firing, and barking of dogs. On arriving at the church, the pole, with its triumphant colours, is stuck into the ground, with a loud huzza; while the train defile, on either side, into the church. On returning home, the same takes place.
Then follows the most ludicrous and wasteful kind of revelling, which often leaves the bridegroom a beggar for life.--_Borrow, on the Spanish Gipsy marriage._--ED.
These matters being settled on the spot, the wedded pair rise from the marriage-bed, again dress themselves in their finest apparel, and again join the wedding-party. The joy and happiness on all sides is now excessive. There is nothing to be heard or seen but fiddling and piping, dancing, feasting and drinking, which are kept up, with the utmost spirit and hilarity imaginable, for many hours together.[174]
/# [174] The part of the marriage ceremony of the Gipsies which relates to the chast.i.ty of the bride has a great resemblance to a part of the nuptial rites of the Russians, and the Christians of St. John, in Mesopotamia and Chaldea. Dr. Hurd says: ”When a new-married couple in Russia retire to the nuptial bed, an old domestic servant stands sentinel at the chamber-door. Some travellers tell us that this old servant, as soon as it is proper, attends nearer the bedside, to be informed of what happens. Upon the husband's declaration of his success and satisfaction, the kettle-drums and trumpets proclaim the joyful news.” Among the Christians of St. John, as soon as the marriage is consummated, ”both parties wait upon the bishop, and the husband deposes before him that he found his wife a virgin; and then the bishop marries them, puts several rings on their fingers, and baptizes them again... . A marriage with one who is discovered to have lost her honour beforehand but very seldom, if ever, holds good.”
When speaking of the marriages of the Mandingoes, at Kamalia, about 500 miles in the interior of Africa, Park says: ”The new-married couple are always disturbed toward morning by the women, who a.s.semble to inspect the nuptial sheet, (according to the manners of the ancient Hebrews, as recorded in Scripture,) and dance around it. This ceremony is thought indispensably necessary, nor is the marriage considered valid without it.” _Park's Travels, page 399._
By the laws of Menu, the Hindoo could reject his bride, if he found her not a virgin.--_Sir William Jones._
[The reader will observe that the marriage ceremony of the Gipsies, though barbarous, is very figurative and emphatic, and certainly moral enough. To show that the Gipsies, as a people, have not been addicted to the most barbarous customs, in regard to marriage, I note the following very singular form of the Scottish Highlanders, which, according to Skene, continued in use _until a very late period_. ”This custom was termed _hand-fasting_, and consisted in a species of contract between two chiefs, by which it was agreed that the heir of one should live with the daughter of the other, as her husband, for twelve months and a day. If, in that time, the lady became a mother, or proved to be with child, the marriage became good in law, even although no priest had performed the marriage in due form; but should there not have occurred any appearance of issue, the contract was considered at an end, and each party was at liberty to marry, or _hand-fast, with any other_.” Which fact shows that Highland chiefs, at one time, would have annulled any, or all, of the laws of G.o.d, whenever it would have served their purposes.--ED.]
The nuptial mixture is carefully bottled up, and the bottle marked with the Roman character, M. In this state, it is buried in the earth, or kept in their houses or tents, and is carefully preserved, as evidence of the marriage of the parties. When it is buried in the fields, the husband and wife to whom it belongs frequently repair to the spot, and look at it, for the purpose of keeping them in remembrance of their nuptial vows. Small quant.i.ties of the compound are also given to individuals of the tribe, to be used for certain rare purposes, such, perhaps, as pieces of the bride's cake are used for dreaming-bread, among the natives of Scotland, at the present day.
What is meant by employing earth, water, spirits, and, of course, air, in this ceremony, cannot be conjectured; unless these ingredients may have some reference to the four elements of nature--fire, air, earth, and water. That of using a ram's horn, in performing the nuptial rites, has also its meaning, could information be obtained concerning that part of the ceremony.
This marriage ceremony is observed by the Gipsies in Scotland at the present day. A man, of the name of James Robertson, and a girl, of the name of Margaret Graham, were married, at Lochgellie, exactly in the manner described. Besides the testimony of the Gipsies themselves, it is a popular tradition, wherever these people have resided in Scotland, that they were all married by mixing of earth and urine together in a wooden bowl. I know of a girl, of about sixteen years of age, having been married in the Gipsy fas.h.i.+on, in a kiln, at Appindull, in Perths.h.i.+re. A Gipsy informed me that he was at a wedding of a couple on a moor near Lochgellie, and that they were married in the ancient Gipsy manner described. Shortly after this, a pair were married near Stirling, after the custom of their ancestors. In this instance, a screen, made of an old blanket, was put up in the open field, to prevent the parties seeing each other, while furnis.h.i.+ng the bowl with what was necessary to lawfully const.i.tute their marriage.[175] The last-named Gipsy further stated to me, that when two young folks of the tribe agree to be married, the father of the bridegroom sleeps with the bride's mother, for three or four nights immediately previous to the celebration of the marriage.
[175] On reading the above ceremony to an intelligent native of Fife, he said he had himself heard a Gipsy, of the name of Thomas Ogilvie, say that the Tinklers were married in the way mentioned. On one occasion, when a couple of respectable individuals were married, in the usual Scottish Presbyterian manner, at Elie, in Fife, Ogilvie, Gipsy-like, laughed at such a wedding ceremony, as being, in his estimation, no way binding on the parties. He at the same time observed that, if they would come to him, he would marry them in the Tinkler manner, which would make it a difficult matter to separate them again.
Having endeavoured to describe the ancient nuptial ceremony of the Scottish Gipsies, I have considered it proper to give some account of an individual who acted as priest on such occasions. The name of a famous celebrator of Gipsy marriages, in Fifes.h.i.+re, was Peter Robertson, well known, towards the latter end of his days, by the name of Blind Pate.
Peter was a tall, lean, dark man, and wore a large c.o.c.ked hat, of the olden fas.h.i.+on, with a long staff in his hand. By all accounts, he must have been a hundred years of age when he died. He was frequently seen at the head of from twenty to forty Gipsies, and often travelled in the midst of a crowd of women. Whenever a marriage was determined on, among the Lochgellie horde, or their immediate connexions, Peter was immediately sent for, however far distant he happened to be at the time from the parties requiring his a.s.sistance, to join them in wedlock: for he was the oldest member of the tribe at the time, and head of the Tinklers in the district, and, as the oldest member, it was his prerogative to officiate, as priest, on such occasions. A friend, who obligingly sent me some anecdotes of this Gipsy priest, communicated to me the following facts regarding him: