olete. Thus "bridegroom" is
the newly married man, and "bride-bell," "bride-banquet" are old
equivalents of wedding-bells, wedding-breakfast. "Bridal" (from
_Bride-ale_), originally the wedding-feast itself, has grown into a general
descriptive adjective, e.g. the _bridal_ party, the _bridal_ ceremony. The
_bride-cake_ had its origin in the Roman _confarreatio_, a form of
marriage, the essential features of which were the eating by the couple of
a cake made of salt, water and flour, and the holding by the bride of three
wheat-ears, symbolical of plenty. Under Tiberius the cake-eating fell into
disuse, but the wheat ears survived. In the middle ages they were either
worn or carried by the bride. Eventually it became the custom for the young
girls to assemble outside the church porch and throw grains of wheat over
the bride, and afterwards a scramble for the grains took place. In time the
wheat-grains came to be cooked into thin dry biscuits, which were broken
over the bride's head, as is the custom in Scotland to-day, an oatmeal cake
being used. In Elizabeth's reign these biscuits began to take the form of
small rectangular cakes made of eggs, milk, sugar, currants and spices.
Every wedding guest had one at least, and the whole collection were thrown
at the bride the instant she crossed the threshold. Those which lighted on
her head or shoulders were most prized by the scramblers. At last these
cakes became amalgamated into a large one which took on its full glories of
almond paste and ornaments during Charles II.'s time. But even to-day in
rural parishes, e.g. north Notts, wheat is thrown over the bridal couple
with the cry "Bread for life and pudding for ever," expressive of a wish
that the newly wed may be always affluent. The throwing of rice, a very
ancient custom but one later than the wheat, is symbolical of the wish that
the bridal may be fruitful. The _bride-cup_ was the bowl or loving-cup in
which the bridegroom pledged the bride, and she him. The custom of breaking
this wine-cup, after the bridal couple had drained its contents, is common
to both the Jews and the members of the Greek Church. The former dash it
against the wall or on the ground, the latter tread it under foot. The
phrase "bride-cup" was also sometimes used of the bowl of spiced wine
prepared at night for the bridal couple. _Bride-favours_, anciently called
bride-lace, were at first pieces of gold, silk or other lace, used to bind
up the sprigs of