A History of Matrimonial Institutions (Vol. 1-3). George Elliott Howard
The examples thus far presented have all been selected from the matrimonial customs of non-Aryan peoples; but the symbol of capture, in a great variety of forms and combinations, may also be found in every subdivision of the Aryan race. It appears in the marriage ceremonies of Sparta, Crete, and among other Hellenes.[523] The nuptial celebration of the Romans was characterized throughout by the show of force. For this reason they hesitated to hold weddings on religious days, lest these should be desecrated by the seeming violence done to the bride.[524] With the rising of the evening star took place the domum deductio, or carrying home, of the woman.[525] The girl fled to the lap of her mother, whence she was dragged forcibly away by the bridegroom and his friends who rushed noisily in.[526] On the way she held back, weeping and struggling, while her attendants sang hymeneal songs, not always the most refined in character. Thus in his nuptial hymn Catullus has the choir of maidens exclaim:
"Say, Hesper, say, what fire of all that shine
In Heaven's great vault more cruel is than thine?
Who from the mother's arms her child can tear—
The child that clasps her mother in despair;
And to the youth, whose blood is all aflame,
Consigns the virgin sinking in her shame!
When towns are sacked, what cruelty more drear."[527]
At the door the bride makes a last effort to resist; but she is lifted forcibly over the threshold, and even in the house she is held fast by the arms, until at last she is fully initiated into the sacred rites of the bridegroom's house.[528] It is noteworthy that the custom of dragging the bride into the husband's house, or of lifting her over the threshold, exists even now in many places. It appears in Africa; among the Ests, Kalmucks, and Bedouins; the Indians of southern California, and elsewhere in North America.[529] In "China, when the bridal procession reaches the bridegroom's house, the bride is carried into the house by a matron, and lifted over a pan of charcoal at the door."[530]
The symbol of capture is especially prominent in Celtic song and custom. As in the German epics, it was not thought unseemly for the daughter to marry the hero who had slain her father.[531] "According to tradition the Picts robbed the Gaels of their women, so that the latter were compelled to intermarry with aboriginal inhabitants of the land."[532] Near the beginning of last century the following marriage ceremony was customary in Wales: "On the morning of the wedding day the bridegroom, accompanied by 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 Cambro-Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amusement of the spectators. When they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is supposed to overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity."[533] Still more real is the sham contest in Ireland. As late as the middle of last century, in mountain districts, the bridegroom "was compelled in honor, to run off with his betrothed, even when there was not the least need of it."[534] On the day of home-bringing, after the purchase-contract had been concluded, "the bridegroom and his friends rode out to meet the bride and her friends, at the place where the contract was made. Being come near each other the custom was of old to cast short darts at the company that attended the bride, but at such distance that seldom any hurt ensued. Yet it is not out of memory of man that the Lord of Hoath on such an occasion lost an eye."[535]
A custom, almost identical with that last mentioned, prevails in the Punjab;[536] and in many parts of India the sham contest and the pretended abduction appear.[537] But nowhere are the symbols of capture found in such wonderful variety and profusion as in Germany and Slavonic lands. The mass of illustration presented by Dargun is almost bewildering for its richness.[538] Every form and type of ceremonial capture is there represented. Elopement, the sham combat, abduction by an armed band, is the regular order of the wedding day in every country of the Slavonic race. In Germany, besides these practices, reminiscences of capture are found in a great variety of pranks and fantastic sports. The bride is concealed from her lover before the wedding; or, after it takes place, she is stolen and concealed by the young people of the village. The bridegroom is hindered from entering the home of his intended on the wedding day; or he finds his way barred to or from the church, and is permitted to proceed only after paying a fine or treating the crowd.[539] Sometimes, as in Sweden, the bride is stolen by her lover and hidden away.[540] In upper Bavaria, on the day of the wedding, she clothes herself in mourning, black or violet;[541] and the practice of covering or veiling her head is as familiar in Germany as it was in ancient Rome.[542] "To veil the woman," quên liugan, is the Gothic name for marriage; in Lorraine it is called Brautjagd, or "bride-hunt;" while Brautlauf, or "bride-race," for the entire nuptial celebration is a common designation in German lands.[543] The original meaning of Brautlauf is probably revealed in the existing custom of chasing the bride. Thus, in Altmark, after the wedding feast, followed by a dance, a runaway match takes place between the newly married pair. "Two lusty young fellows take the girl between them, the bridegroom gives her a 'start,' and the race begins. If the lover does not succeed in overtaking her, he must look out for the gibes of the crowd."[544]
As illustration of social custom and mental attitude the extraordinary prevalence of the so-called symbol of capture is undoubtedly a fact of unusual interest; and it constitutes an important chapter in the history of marriage. But it does not follow, as a matter of course, that the symbol must necessarily be regarded as a survival of actual capture. It is scarcely credible that its origin can be traced to a single source. On the contrary, it is far more likely that in different places, or even in the same place, it takes its rise in a variety of causes, though these may be less simple in character. Thus, in spite of the protest of McLennan,[545] who asserts that "no case can be cited of a primitive people among whom the seizing of brides is rendered necessary by maidenly coyness," it is highly probable that the real or assumed modesty of the woman has exerted a strong influence, here and there, in producing the form of capture.[546] Sometimes the simpler explanation of Starcke may suffice. Ceremonial capture, he declares, merely represents the "sorrow of the bride on leaving her former home; her close dependance on her family is expressed by her lamentation."[547] Again the symbol may appear as the sign of the subjection or subordination of the wife; for many of the so-called minor survivals seem to have this end in view. In a society where woman, on occasion, is seized in the bloody foray; where, often, she is bought like a beast of burden; and where, generally, she is exposed to the cruelty and brutality of her master, it is not surprising that the token of the wife's humility should find its way into the ceremony of marriage.[548] Furthermore the suggestion of Letourneau is worthy of special consideration. The symbol of rape, he holds, is first of all a "mental survival;" a "tradition" of an epoch more or less remote when violence was held in high esteem and when it was glorious to procure slaves by force of arms. The period of rapine may have passed away, but its spirit lingers. Men love to figure in the ceremonial of marriage the abductions of old, which they cannot or dare not any longer commit.[549]
"Connubial and formal capture," according to Crawley, "are very widely spread, but are never survivals of real capture." "In fact, formal capture, far from being itself a survival, either of connubial or of actual hostile capture, is the ceremonial mode of which connubial capture is the non-ceremonial; each is a living reality, the one being material and the other ideal."[550]
Nevertheless, after all is said, it seems hard to believe that ceremonial capture does not sometimes have a more real significance. Often it may symbolize the coyness or mark the subjection of woman. More frequently it may stand as a mere general reminiscence of the good old times of force and lawlessness. Still it would be strange, indeed, if it did not also appear as a direct survival of actual wife-capture.[551] Granting this, however, the significance of capture de facto remains the same. We perceive more clearly that it has very widely prevailed; yet it must still be regarded as a mere incident of war and pillage. It has nothing whatever to do with the institution of marriage. It could never on any wide scale have been the normal manner of procuring wives. To assume that wife-stealing has been a universal phase in the evolution of marriage is