Part One – Life | 386 E . Westermarck, in his Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco, London 1914, p . 229, remarks that, if the bride is found not to be a virgin, sometimes the bride’s parents, in order to avoid a scandal ( such as the immediate cessation of the wedding ceremony ) , “bribe the bridegroom to conceal the fact, in which case the blood of a fowl or a pigeon is used as a substitute for the lacking signs of virginity . ” 1 This practice is already to be found in R . F . Burton’s translation of The Thousand Nights and One Night, London 1886, Vol . 2, p . 50, where we read : On the night of consummation they cut the throat of a pigeon - poult and sprinkled the blood on her shift . In a footnote ad loc . He adds : This ancient and venerable practice of inspecting the marriage - sheet is still religiously preserved in most parts of the East ; and in old - fashioned Moslem families it is publicly exposed in the Harem to prove that the “domestic calamity” ( the daughter ) went to her hus...
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