Note 43 — The Cycle of Life

Great care must be exercised in handling the cup; for should the contents be shaken the couple will become dizzy, and in old age their heads and hands will shake. After they have drunk, each takes a handful of rice, and squeezes it into a ball. The girl drops hers through the slits in the bamboo floor as an offering to the spirits, but the boy tosses his into the air. If it breaks or rolls, it is a bad sign, and the couple is apt to part, or their children die. In such a circumstance, the marriage is usually deferred, and tried again at a later date; but repeated scattering of the rice generally results in the annulling of the agreement.43 Should anything in the dwelling fall or be broken during the ceremony, it is halted at once; to proceed further that night would be to court misfortune. However, it may be undertaken again a few days later.