a_), both being so
treated and served by their village and the invited communities of the
neighbourhood. The majority of the greater village weddings fall in
the month of March, the finest of the Syrian year. The winter rains
being over, and the sun still refreshing, not oppressive as in the
following months, the weddings are celebrated in the open air on the
village threshing-floor, which at this time of the year is with few
exceptions a flowery mead. ...We pass over the wedding-day itself with
its displays, the sword-dance of the bride, and the great feast. On
the morrow, bridegroom and bride awake as king and queen. Already
before sunrise they receive the leader of the bridesmen, as their
vizier, and the bridesmen themselves; the latter thereupon fetch the
threshing-board and bring it to the threshing-floor, singing a rousing
song of battle or love, generally both. There it is erected as a
throne, and after the royal couple have taken their seats and the
necessary formalities are gone through, a great dance in honour of the
young couple begins; the accompanying song is concerned only with
themselves, its principal element being the inevitable _wasf_, i.e. a
description of the physical perfections of both and their ornaments.
The eulogy of the queen is more moderate, and praises her visible,
rather than veiled, charms; this is due to the fact that she is to-day
a married woman, and that the _wasf_ sung on the previous day during
her sword-dance has left nothing to desire. This _wasf_ is the weak
element in Syrian wedding-songs according to our taste; its
comparisons are to us frequently too clumsy and reveal the stereotyped
pattern. It is the same with the little collection of charming
wedding-songs and fragments of them which has been received into the
canon of the Old Testament under the name of Canticles; the _wasf_
(iv.--vii.) is considerably below the rest in poetical value. With
this dance begin the sports, lasting seven days, begun in the morning
on the first, shortly before midday on the other days, and continuing
far into the night by the light of the fires that are kindled; on the
last day alone all is over by sunset. During the whole week both
royalties are in marriage attire, must do no work and have no cares;
they have only to look down from the _merteba_ (throne) on the sports
carried on before them, in which they themselves take but a m