Page 79 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

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mother. She fasts when she is strong enough to do so, at twelve or
lifteen years of age. When the smaller girls want to fast they are
comforted by the consideration that they may do so at night. As the
girls grow up into women, they are very faithful in all their religious
observances; but their religion is powerless to give them any comfort
or strength. The girls do not veil till they marry but wear a sort of
cap with a long black veil down the back.
Our little girl, as already mentioned, is married at twelve or soon
after, though more and more sensible parents refuse to marry their
daughters so early. Today we were calling on a little bride of about
twelve, who rebelled at having to stay in the house with her husband,
a man of about forty, and refused to go up to the room where she ». •
generally sits with him. Her mother and neighbors were trying to
persuade her to be obedient, saying that they too had been married i :-
early. When I asked the mother why she had permitted the little
girl to be married so young, she said that the man was a cousin and
and that he had insisted on his right to marry her and that she hail
been compelled to agree.
The wedding arrangements are in the father’s hands and the girl
has absolutely no voice in the matter. The father’s brother's soil usually
asks for her, but failing this cousin, any young man of about the same
age is considered suitable. The middle-class does not often give a
young girl lu a very much older man, as in the case just mentioned.
Such things, as well as polygamy and frequent divorce, both of which
the poorer man cannot ailord, make the rich homes, very often, un- •V
liappicr than the middle-class ones.
The father having come to an agreement with the parents of the
bridegroom, receives, among the middle-class, about four or live .v.'-i
■ l
hundred rupees for his daughter. Most of this money he uses on llie-
bride’s outfit, he would never think of using it to- pay his own debts;
though if he happens to be in great need, he may use it for the current 1
expenses of the family till the wedding day, which follows soon after
the engagement, usually within a week. A cloak and a number of • : »
dresses for the bride, a towel for the man and one for the woman,
and a sheet for the bed, are the essentials of a bride’s outfit. The
rest of the outfit, necessary for their room in his father's house, the
groom supplies.
At the wedding ceremony the bride is not even present, but is
represented by her father, who goes to the mosque with the bride­
groom, where the local judge performs the ceremony. He preaches
a short sermon on fidelity and kindness, reads from the Koran and
receives the official consent of the two parties. The home wedding
can take place that same evening or any night after that.
In the bride’s house, a room has been got ready for her with rugs
and mirrors, borrowed from all the friends and acquaintances. Th.-
room is hung with silks, while these in turn are covered with rows of
mirrors and Christmas-tree halls. At one end. behind a silk curtain,
is the bed. Cushions and pillows are placed all along the wall. All
these, as well as the bride’s heavy gold ornaments, necklaces, bracelet.^,
rings, ear and nose rings, and anklets are borrowed. The night of the

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