ABSTRACT
Infant betrothals are not uncommon, but they are becoming less frequent than they used to be. As a rule, a young man chooses for himself the girl whom he wishes to marry. He begins by obtaining the permission of the girl’s parents to paying his addresses—not, however, to the girl herself, but through the parents. “He then selects a go-between, who first consults a chicken’s bones. If they give an unfavourable reply, the matter is allowed to drop; if, on the other hand, the answer is favourable, the go-between arranges the match, and when this is done a feast is given by the young man’s friends to those of the girl. If a girl breaks her engagement, she has to pay the expenses of the feast; but she is at liberty to receive the addresses of another suitor if her betrothed declares publicly that he desires to forfeit all that has been spent, which is the recognized way of breaking off the match.”
