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MERRY-MA-TANSA |
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And Shakespeare alludes to the custom in the lines—"As fit as ten groats for the hand of an attorney, as Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger."—AWs Well that Ends Well. The rejoicing and bestowal of the blessing by the ring of friends give an almost complete picture of early Scotch marriage custom. A version of this game, which appeared in the Weekly Scotsman of October 16, 1893, by Edgar L. Wakeman, is interesting, as it confirms the above idea, and adds one or two details which may be important, i.e., the " choose your maidens one by one," and "sweep the house till the bride comes home." This game is called the "Gala Ship," and the girls, forming a ring, march round singing—
Three times round goes the gala, gala ship,
And three times round goes she; Three times round goes the gala, gala ship,
And sinks to the bottom of the sea.
They repeat this thrice, courtesying low. The first to courtesy is placed in the centre of the circle, when the others sing:—
Choose your maidens one by one, One by one, one by one; Choose your maidens one by one— And down goes (all courtesy) Merrima Tansa!
She chooses her maidens. They take her to a distance, when she is secretly told the name of her lover. The remainder of the girls imitate sweeping, and sing several stanzas to the effect that they will "sweep the house till the bride comes home," when the bride is now placed within the circle, and from a score to a hundred stanzas, with marching and various imitations of what the lucky bride accomplishes or undergoes, are sung. Each one closes with " Down goes Merrima Tansa " and the head-ducking; and this wonderful music-drama of childhood is not concluded until the christening of the bride's first-born, with—
Next Sunday morn to church she must gae, A babe on her knee, the best of 'a— And down goes Merrima Tansa! |
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