procedure

The fourth ceremony, fetching the bride at the present day, is, except in my province Fukien where we keep up the old customs,—generally dispensed with, as it entails too much trouble and expense to the bride' s family.The bride now, instead of being fetched, is sent to the bride—groom' s house.When the bride arrives there, the bridegroom receives her at the gate and himself opens the door of the bridal chair and leads her to the hall of the house.There the bride and bride—groom worship Heaven and Earth (拜天地), i.e. to say, they fall on their kness with their faces turned to the door of the hall with a table carrying two red burning candles before the open sky and then the hushand pours libations on the ground,—in presence of the pair of wild geese (if wild goose cannot be had, an ordinary goose) which the bride has brought with her.This is the ceremony called Tien yen pouring libation before the wild goose; plighting of troth between man and woman—he vowing to be true to her, and she, to be true to him, just as faithful as the pair of wild geese they see before them.From this moment, they become, so to speak, naturalsweetheart husband and sweetheart wife, bound only by the moral law, the Law of the Gentleman,—the word of honour which they have given to each other, but not yet by the Civic Law.This