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Show 20 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. BOOK vr. that it was neceiEtry to confult their r lations and conneCtions, and to • find out the inclin,ltions of th<.:ir daughter, before they could come tu .any .refolution. Thcfe female folic.itors returned no more; as the parents themfelves conveyed, ~y means of other women of th eir kindred, a decifivc anfwcr to the party. A favourable anfw r being at lafi obtained, and a day appointed fot· the nuptials, the parents, after exhorting their daughter to fidelity and obedience to her hu!band, and to fuch a conduCt in life as would do honour to her f:Jrnily, conduCted her with a numerous company and ~ufic, jto the houfc of her f.'lther··in-law; if noble, ale was carried in a litter. The brjdegroom, and .the 'father ami mother-in-law, received her at the gate of the houfe, with four torches borne by four women. At meeting, the bride and bridegroom reciprocally offered incenJe to ,each other; then the bridegroom taking the bride by the hand, led her into the hall, or chamber 'Yhich was prepared for the nuptials. They both fate down upon a new and Cllrioufiy wrought mat, which was fpread in the middle of the chaniber, a11d clofe to the fire which was kept lighted. Then a pdefi: tied a point of the lmepi!ft', or gown of the bride, with the ti!matli, or mantle of the bridegroom, and in this ceremony the matrimonial contraCt chiefly c<Dnfill:cd. The wife now made fome turns round the fir.e, and then returning to her mat, fhe, along with her hufband, offered copal to their gods, and exchang·· .ed prefents w.ith each other. The repaft followed next. The· rnar. ried pair eat upon the mat, giving ·mouthfuls to each other alternately and to the guefts in their places. When thofe who had been invited were become exhilarated with wine, which was freely drank on fuch .occafions, they went out to dance in the yard of the honfe, while the married pair remained in the chamber, from which, during four days, they never frirred, except to obey the calls of nature, or to go to the .oratory at midnight to burn incenfe to the ,idols, ;md to make ob]a~ .tions of eatables. They pafied thefe four days in prayer and .fitfl:ing, .dreifed in new habits, and adorned with certain enfigns of the gods of their devotion, without proceeding to any aCt of lefs decency, fearing that otherwife the punifi1ment of heaven would fall upon them. Their beds on thefe nights were two mats of ruflles, covered with fmall aleets, with certain feathers, and a gem of C!Ja/chihuit! in the middle of H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C O. 32I of them. At the fout corners of the bed green canes and fpines of the BOOK VI. aloe were laid, with which they were to draw blood from their tongues ' and theit· ears in honour of their gods. The priefis were the perfons who adjuftcd the bed to fanft:ify the marriage; but we know nothing of the myll:ery of the canes, the feathers, and the getn. Until the fourth night the marriage was not confummated; they believed it would have proved· unlucky, if they had anticipated the period of confummation. The morning after they bathed thcmfclves and put on new drefies, and thofe who had been invited1 adorned their heads with white, and their hands and feet with red feathers. The ceremony was concluded by making prefents of dreffes to the guefts, .which were proportioned to the circumll:ances of the married pair ; and on that f.une day they carried to the temple the mats, Otccts, canes, and the eatables whic-h had been prefented to the idols. The forms which we have defcribed, in the marriages of the Mexicans were not [o univerfal through the empire, but that [orne provinces obfcrved other peculiarities. In Ichcatlan, whoever was defirous of marrying prefented himfelf to the priell:s, by whom he was conduCted to the temple, where they cut off a part of his hair before the idol which was worfhipped there, and then pointing him out to the people, they began to exc laim, fi1ying, this man 'loijbes to take cz w{fc.'. Then they made him dcfccnd, and take the firfl: free woman he met, as the on whom heav n dell:ined to him . Any woman who did not like to have h im for a hu{bund, avoided coming near to the temple at that time, that £he might not fubj eet herfclf to the ncce!1lty of marrying him: this marriage was only fingular therefore in the mode of feeling for a wife. Among the Otomies, it was bwful to ufc any free woman before they married her. yv'hen any pcrfon was about to take a wife, if on the firft nio·ht he found any thing about his wife which was dif.'lgrccable to hin~, he was permitted to divorce her the next day; but if he fbewcd himfdf all that day content with having her, he could not afterwards abandon her. The con traCt being thus ratified, the p2 ir rc • tired to do penance for ].Xdl: oft: ·nccs twenty or thirty clap·, during which p<.:rioJ they abftaincd from mofl: of the plcafures of the fenfes, drew blood from thcmfelvcs, a_ncl frequently bathed. VoL. I. T t Among I |
