ABSTRACT
THE choice of certain days of the week on which to celebrate Jewish marriages was, however, quite free from superstitious motives. The favourite wedding day in the middle ages was Friday 1. The selection of this day was entirely against the Talmudic prescriptions on the subject 2, but the convenience of marrying on Friday was so obvious that medieval authorities; while deploring the custom, did not seriously attempt to effect a change. Wednesday was also a not uncommon day for the m.arriage of virgins, and Thursday for widows, but Friday carried off the palm for popularity~
There were several reasons for this. Though marriage was forbidden on the Sabbath (as well as on festivals), nevertheless the proximity in time to the day of rest, and the opportunity given for associating the wedding with the synagogue service of the followi~g day, gave to Friday a peculiar appropriateness. For the marriage
day, amid all its uproarious merry makings, possessed a solemnity illustrated by many customs. The bride and bridegroom fasted on the wedding morn, and regarded the occasion as one on which to make special penitence. 1 Ashes were strewn over the heads of the bridal pair during the wedding ceremony. In Germany the bridegroom wore a cowl-a typical mourning garb. Fur was an ordinary trimming for the wedding dresses: this was equally a sign of grief. The bride wore over her more festive attire a white sargenes or shroud.
