CHAPTER VII

CUSTOMS OF MOSUL

Wedding ceremonies—Great expense to parents—Method of procedure—
Funeral customs—Customs at birth—Somo other customs.

" The bridegroom's doors are open wide,
And I am next of kin ;
The guests are met, the feast is set;
May'st hear the merry din."

S. T. COLEEIDGE.

WE have seen that a wedding is a very expen-
sive matter in Mosul, especially to parents
who possess three or four daughters ; for unless the
necessary gold, jewellery, and clothing are forth-
coming as a dowry, the marriage will never take
place. For this reason a man with a number of
daughters will begin saving for their marriage portion
and expenses while the girl is yet a baby, and the
mothers will often commence gathering together
clothing even before the child is betrothed, so that
they may be better prepared for the expensive event
when it does take place.

Then, too, not only is there the outlay for the
dowry and clothing, but also for the feasting of some
hundreds, it maybe, of guests during the seven days
following the marriage. A man of very fair means
in Mosul once told me that the marriage of his
daughters cost him at least £200 each, and as he had

seven daughters the sum total required was not small.

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