2-982-126 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A Village Wedding in the Bavarian Highlands, 1876. 'Dowry-Waggon before the Bridegroom's House; Salting the Soup; Marriage Procession...on the eve of the complete celebration, the bride's dowry is conveyed to the bridegroom's house in a cart...gaily decked with ribbons. It contains household furniture, the nuptial bed and bedclothes, the wife's spinning-wheel, a linen-chest...On the wedding-day [the bride] comes with a procession from her father's house, escorted by the bridesmaids and the Kranzlherrn, or wreath-bearers, young men of her own family, with her parents...friends and neighbours, all wearing white ribbon bows and sprigs of rosemary...When she is conducted to her new home...the cook meets her with a bowl of soup, and asks her to taste it and salt it to her liking. This she does, by way of a commencement of housekeeping authority'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.