Show HONEY IN BRIDAL CEREMONY pretty custom in sparta that Is a survival of an ancient pagan rite hit in sparta there Is a most striking and pretty custom whose origin Is lost in the mists of antiquity students tell us that it Is a survival of an ancient pagan rite when the bride has really become ft a wife after her dowry has been paid and after the priest has solem solemnize solemnized ed the marriage vows TOWS the bridegroom takes her to hla his own home at the door stanza the bridegrooms bride grooms mother in her hand Is a glass of honey and water the bride drinks some of it so that hr words in that house may a always be its as sweet as honey the rest of the honey la in the glass Is spilled upon the lintel of the doorway and Is smeared there that the house may be tree free from strife then one of the wedding guests breaks on the threshold a pomegranate in some of the ds the pomegranate Is thrown at the door and so Is broken it if some of the seeds stick the omen Is considered wonderfully fine in the island of rhodes the pomegranate Is placed on the threshold of the brides new home and the brid bridegroom groom crushes it with his foot m ahen ben he enberg with her symbol of love and of fruitfulness Is the pomegranate in the minds of those whose affections still cling to the glory that was greece with what tremulous fervor the little bride in rhodes must hear her wedding guests shout as the bridegroom traces a cross on the alie threshold w with ith honey be send gond and sweet as tills this honey ill 1 |