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The music is continued during the procession to the house of the bride.
The wedding (mampleuë).This great procession is called mampleuë[1] and commences at 9 P.M. or even later.
All that we have so far described appertains to the Achehnese adat, and the same is true of the mampleuë and the subsequent proceedings at the house of the bride. At the same time it is regarded as a matter of course that no meeting can take place between the bride and bridegroom until the requirements of the Mohammedan law are fulfilled, i. e. until the marriage contract has been executed in the prescribed form. This ceremonial is seldom deferred until the coming of the bridegroom to the bride's house; it generally takes places during the course of the wedding day, or even a day or two before, in the meunasah of the bride's gampōng, or in the house of some neighbouring malém.
On a later page we shall describe the peculiarities of the marriage contract and add some remarks with reference to the dowry, the financial results of marriage, etc. For the present let us simply assume that the requirements of the hukōm (religious law) have been satisfied, and that adat can thus take its free course.
The fellow-villagers and relatives of the bridegroom have now assembled in great numbers. After the young man has paid respect to his parents and brethren by a farewell obeisance, he is led down the steps of the house by some of the "elders". As soon as his feet touch the ground at the foot of the steps, one of the elders exclaims "Allahumma çallī ʿala sayyidinā Muḥammad", i.e. "O God! let thy blessing rest on (be gracious to) our Lord Mohammad." All the bystanders shout aloud in chorus salawalééé! These formulas are repeated three times[2].
The bridegroom is now placed in the midst of his fellow-villagers. He is frequently attended by some of his nearest relatives, but seldom by the nearest of all, and never by his father, as this would conflict with the relations which subsist between parents-in-law. The procession is headed by the musicians, who have here again a special tune for
- ↑ This word is identical with the Malay měmplai, which is borrowed from the Tamil, but it is never used (like the original word) in the sense of "bride" or "bridegroom". It is used in Acheh to indicate the procession alone. The expression jaʾ euntat mampleuë is indeed employed in the sense of to escort the bridegroom on his way to the bride's house, but to the Achehnese these words convey the notion of joining the "bridegroom's procession".
- ↑ Salawalé is the Achehnese pronunciation of the Arabic çallû ʿalaih = utter the çalat-prayer for him (the Prophet).
