A small treatise on marriage traditions in Mill’en.

In Mill’en there are many wedding traditions which vary depending on exactly where in the country you are from, and what strata of society you originate in.

Being a country dominated by the Worship of the Teacher (which is the official state religion) several aspects of the wedding are very formalised, and often take 2 or more days.

The day before the wedding is normally an informal party with various games and pastimes taking place as well as the parties involved in negotiating the marriage contract meeting and discussing this away from the bride and groom.

On the day of the wedding the religious ceremony is followed by a reception or ball afterwards.


The Wedding Contract

This is a very important part of the wedding. The bride and groom each appoint a second, their legal representative, who meet to discuss the formal arrangement between the 2 parties getting married and draft out the contract. Often when this is being discussed others who know the parties will come and put their own 2 bushels worth in as well. Sometimes the priests of each family are involved, generally as they are the legal expert, and often, if the people are of noble blood, a representative of the Night Court advises on certain matters.

In general the more important the person getting married the more important the details of the contract can become and they often will cover the situation with inheritance, children by previous relationships, allowances for other lovers , how many, where they are allowed to be seen, and the status they are afforded.. In fact anything either party feels is important will get laid down in the contract.

The role of these seconds is to represent their own family’s interests, and protect their family member from unreasonable demands. The bride and groom are less immediately involved, often only seeing and signing the contract just before the wedding, when they examine it with a Priest of the Teacher. Naturally, the bride and groom will have been informed by their seconds, as to the progress of the contract. If the seconds have done their job properly, the contract contains no suprises, and the pre-marital agreements happen without argument.
It follows that the role of a second is a delicate one, especially when dealing with families who are ticklish of their honour, or demanding in their rights. Also at the end of the day they are the one’s who make the final agreement to be presented to the bride and groom, so they have the final say on what is and isn’t entered after everyone else has expressed their opinion.

Other traditions

There are many more practises than those listed here, and I am sure there will be those who know of some which I have missed, but I felt some of the following were of particular note for their quaintness.

It is a traditional Mill‘enese custom for the groom to call on his future bride at her home on the morning of their wedding. The groom escorts her to the wedding chapel in a procession, headed by musicians, followed behind by the bride with her father, guests and the groom with his mother at the end of line.

Sometime during the vows, when the couple are on their knees, the groom might kneel on his brides wedding dress to show who will be 'wearing the pants' in the relationship. When they stand, the bride might step on her groom's foot to show otherwise.

It is customary for the 'best man' to steal the bride from the reception and take her to a local pub, where they drink until the groom finds them. Then the groom has to pay some ransom or gift to have her returned.

Dance - the first dance is danced by the bride and the groom, it is traditionally a waltz. The next dance is only for bride with her father and groom with mother, while bride's mother dances with groom's father.

Wedding Evening - at the wedding evening a lot of games are played, speeches are held (the first normally from the father of the bride though anyone is allowed to stand and give a speech), sometimes a wedding newspaper is handed out. Songs are sung, and so on.

Gift Giving – The Bride and Groom will often have a time where guests in turn get to speak with them and present gifts. These traditionally are often small cakes or similar or a small piece of entertainment.

Log-sawing is another wedding tradition from Mill’en. It is done after the wedding ceremony. There will be a log on this log sawing horse and when the newly wed couple comes out of the church it awaits them as the first task they have to accomplish together as a married couple. It is supposed to show how they will manage to accomplish tough tasks in the future.


From the court archives