The Maronites, in common with the Greeks and the Armenians, pay an annual visit to the Cedars of Lebanon, for the celebration of the feast of the Transfiguration. Here they celebrate mass on a rough stone altar, at the foot of the Cedars: in the open air—in “a temple not made with hands”—some of them offer up prayers and thanksgivings, quoting those very Psalms of David which were composed and written expressly to commemorate God’s mercy and loving-kindness, as in connection with the immediate spots which surround these cedars.
A wedding amongst the Maronites differs in some material points from the ordinary marriages in Syria; in the first place, the priest is considered the principal negotiator, and on his report as to the suitableness of the match, much of the future happiness of the young people may be said to depend. After preliminaries have been arranged, gifts of dresses, and the like, are exchanged, but the bashful _fiancée_ is supposed to be in utter ignorance of all that transpires, to spurn these gifts, and to dislike even the mention of her future husband’s name. The priest blesses the bridal clothes of the bridegroom before he adopts them. When the friends go to fetch the bride, a mock combat ensues, in which, however, without bloodshed or bruises, the bridegroom’s party is invariably victorious, and the women carry off the veiled bride in triumph, attended by her female relation. The bride’s house mourns her departure, and she herself makes no secret of her sorrow to leave; but the _arus_ (bride) no sooner makes her appearance than the shouts and acclamations, and firing of muskets by the assembled multitude, seem effectually to drown any discordant sounds of lamentation; the procession, however, moves at a funeral pace, for it is thought highly indecorous that the bride should appear as though anxious to arrive at her new abode. On crossing the threshold, she is saluted by the women with the cry of welcome, and clapping the hands; and after her veil has been removed, she is covered with one of red gauze, and then made to sit in state on the divan at the upper end of the room. Here she neither smiles nor speaks, but rises on the entry of each venerable female friend, to embrace her, and kiss her hand. Both men and women, though in separate apartments, pass the night in noisy hilarity. Before sunset, the bishop, or in his absence the senior priest, attends at the bridegroom’s house to perform the ceremony; all symptoms of mirth are immediately abandoned, silence is proclaimed, and then the service proceeds very much after the fashion of the Greek Church, only that both the groomsman and bridesmaid are crowned by the priest as well as the couple being married, and the _bridegroom_ places the ring given him by the priest on the bride’s finger. Towards the end of the marriage ceremony, the priest puts a piece of blue ribband, with the picture of a saint attached to it, round the bridegroom’s neck. The newly married bride is confined to her house for the space of a month after her marriage.