This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing
a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her
father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body
had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride
is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the
service of her husband and his relations.
The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in
England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride
and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having
two spouts. These cups are filled with sake, the national strong drink of
Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify
that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this
sipping of sake constitutes the marriage ceremony.
The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her
merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns,
quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the
morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night,
for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's
father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour
to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave
to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has
obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering
her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer
misery.
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