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	while they become accustomed to their new life together.		while they become accustomed to their new life together.

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	often a premature death intervenes before a child is born. If		often a premature death intervenes before a child is born. If
	the wife survives the union and has not yet reached her sixtieth		the wife survives the union and has not yet reached her sixtieth
	~~eth~~ year of life, her family reclaims her dowry and may arrange		year of life, her family reclaims her dowry and may arrange
	another marriage at their discretion. However, if the wife has		another marriage at their discretion. However, if the wife has
	reached her sixtieth year of life, she has attained adulthood		reached her sixtieth year of life, she has attained adulthood

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	~~[[Category:~~Sand ~~Elves]]~~		{{cat\|Sand Elf}}

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New page

=Marriage Among Elves=
==Volume V: The Sand Clan==
-''An Investigation by Simon J. Bright''

Life on the desert is harsh and life is a frail thing, with
death always hovering over one's shoulder. It is not considered
as precious as that most rare commodity of water in these dry
lands. This is reflected both in the ceremonies that not only
join two Elves together, but also form alliances to the water
rights of the family lines and the dowry coat of the bride,
called the "bal zapen", which carries representations of the
water rights she bears.

Oddly enough, the rituals of the mating dance used among the
Sand Elves are most similar to those of the River Elves, which
gives rise to some speculation about the true origins of this
clan, particularly when one begins analyzing the similarities in
grammatical structure and word usage shared between the two.
Although Sand Elves refuse to discuss such possibilities and
become hostile at the thought of comparison to the "corrupted
blood" of other Elves, it is highly suggestive that the few
arranged marriages permitted with family blessings outside of
the Sand Elves have all been to families of the River Elves.

Like the River Elvenkindred, those of the Sands have particular
times to announce formal engagements and join two bloodlines in
alliance. At the time of the Harvest Festival, the families of
all the bloodlines converge at Su'Liyos to celebrate their survival for yet another year, to compare each other's relative
wealth and prospects, and reaffirm agreements of marriage.

Unlike the River Elves, Sand Elves marry their daughters at a
very young age. Some say this is to keep the bloodlines pure,
others cynically suggest this is due more to the desire to
cement a water alliance before either fate's hand in the form of
an accident or a wandering eye destroys any chance of a marriage
and alliance between the two families. Unlike any of the other
Elven clans, the bride leaves her family to live in her husband's holdings with his entire extended family. Unofficial
polygamy exists, but only among males of great power and wealth
well able to afford the expense of several wives and their
potential water rights, for no family would offer their daughter
as bride to a family without such wealth and power.
The daughter of a family who carries the majority of the water
rights as dowry is often wedded before she has seen twenty
turnings of the seasons to a male Elf in his maturity, or
perhaps even his dotage, who has acquired sufficient wealth and
power. If there is fruit from this union, the water alliances
and the families are bound firmly together.

Considering the harshness of life on the desert and the discrepancy of age between the bride and groom, it is unsurprising that
often a premature death intervenes before a child is born. If
the wife survives the union and has not yet reached her sixtieth
eth year of life, her family reclaims her dowry and may arrange
another marriage at their discretion. However, if the wife has
reached her sixtieth year of life, she has attained adulthood
and matters become more complex. She now can make her own
decisions about a future marriage and retains control over her
dowry. She may choose to remain in her dead husband's house
hold, for they are obligated to care for her. If she has already established an ongoing, amicable relationship with one of
her late husband's sons, she may choose to enter into his house
hold as wife. If she does not wed, she may choose to leave the
holding at any time, taking her dowry of water rights with her.
If she dies before producing a child, the water rights she holds
return to her family.

As may easily be inferred from this, the necessity of producing
surviving children is self evident, not only to ensure the
continuation of the family line, but also to secure water rights
and riches. A rich widow free to make her own choice of mate is
coveted by all, and the astute woman may accumulate much wealth
as her various suitors send her dazzling gifts to display their
worth, accompanied by passionate letters of devotion.

During the first week of the Harvest Festival, there is much
tension as the various families compare their wealth and status
to the other families and hope to either maintain or improve
their own standing in the community. The final three days are
devoted to the dances announcing formal engagement, with the
weddings set for the Spring Fest.

Each day of the festival begins in the same fashion. At dawn,
the entire community converges on the gathering area. Musicians
begin the slow drumbeat of the Trance Dance with its unnerving
yet mesmerizing rhythms as the veiled Sand Dancers enter the
central area, each bearing a large urn of colored sand. The
dancers set their urns down before them, facing the musicians as
they begin slowly swaying in time with the drumbeat.

The drumming quickens, holding the same rhythms but intensifying
in tempo and effect. The dancers flail their heads and arms as
their movements become more ecstatic, seeming to emanate from
their souls to animate their bodies. As the trance deepens, the
dancers begin to move about the area with an eerie grace, taking
handfuls of sand from the urns and dancing wildly as they pour
the sand in patterns upon the ground.

A crescendo of drumming brings the dance to a close and the Sand
Dancers halt in unison, crying out in wordless protest before
silently reclaiming their urns and filing out of the area. They
leave behind a unique circular geometric design scribed in the
sand, called from the dancers' souls at the time of its
creation. I can only compare the designs to the exquisite works
of art wrought in stained glass, particularly when the sun fully
rises and releases the full beauty of the crystalline sands.

Once the Sand Dancers leave, the drummers guzzle clear water and
again begin to play, this time accompanied by the low melodies
of the curled horns, offset by the sounds of tambourine and
flute, as veiled women are silently led by their fathers or
the male head of their household to form a loose circle of
dancers about the design. Each father partners his daughter in
a sedate dance that slowly revolves the entire company of eligible daughters about the central design in the same manner as
the Sun passes around the earth, signifying the power of the
father to make the choice for his daughter.

Once the revolving circle of father-daughter dancers is firmly
established, the melody changes to the accompaniment of a
brasher, almost arrogant drumbeat. The potential grooms
approach the design, taking their place to form a masculine
circle surrounding the first circle of dancers. Their somber
dress only serves to draw attention to the gilded, highly decorated crimson coffers brimming with coin and gems that are
borne in their outstretched hands.

The circle of suitors begins to dance, holding their coffers
always before them as their circle revolves in the opposite
direction to the father-daughter dancers, indicating their
status as supplicants in petitioning the father for the hand of
his daughter. There is tenseness in their dance, for although
the complicated negotiations necessary for a suitor to acquire
his prize were completed seasons ago, she may yet slip from his
grasp if her father now denies him by refusing the coffer he
bears.

Each maiden wears two circlets of red roses bound by a long
scarlet ribbon over her veil. As the two dancing circles
revolve, the suitor finds himself facing the maiden and her
father. The suitor bows in his dance while offering his coffer
to the father, only to be haughtily refused before the circles of
dance continue to revolve, removing the maiden from his gaze.
On the next revolution he will see the father again, and again
offer his coffer, only to meet refusal once more.

The third circuit of the dance is the critical moment for the
suitor. If all has gone well, this time the father accepts the
offered coffer before slipping the top garland from his daughter's head and setting it on the head of her suitor.

The couple thus joined begins to orbit about one another at the
length of the scarlet ribbon joining them, never touching as
their private dance pulls them from the father-daughter circle
to form a new circle of dancers just beyond the perimeter of the
scribed sand. This newest circle of dancers does not revolve
about the design but remains stationary, the man and woman in
each couple only revolving about one another.

The dance closes as the sun strikes its highest position in the
Sky. The father of the maiden approaches the couple and cuts
the ribbon joining them before reclaiming his daughter. The
engaged couples will retain their garlands throughout the
feasting occupying the remainder of the day. At dusk, the community gathers with tiny brooms around the sand painting and, as
the drums beat, vigorously sweep every grain of sand away, leaving only the memory of the beauty that had been scribed there.

The same ritual structure repeats the following two days, but is
reserved for adult women choosing among their many suitors.
Each woman enters the dance alone, twirling about the inner
circle as the males seeking her hand dance along the outer one.
The woman wears a long crimson scarf knotted casually about her
unbound hair with the wide panels of the bal galingen flying
about her as she twirls in the steps of the dance. Usually she
will honor each man competing for her hand with a teasing dance
before unknotting the scarf from her head and dancing in a
serpentine fashion among the outer circle. She signifies her
choice of mate by draping the scarf around the successful
suitor's neck and tying it in a loose danato of joining. The
engaged couple then dances the inner circle together for three
turns before the dance ends. After a brief pause, the next
woman seeking remarriage enters the circle and the process
begins once again.

The wedding ceremonies happen during the time of the Spring
Gathering. There are certain monks among the Sand Elves trained
in manner of Sand Dancers. They are highly sought after for
their service in the wedding ceremony, for the gelnurte of the
Sand Elves is not a cloth, but an intricate design scribed in
sand in the sanctified area where the wedding will take place.

A single monk builds the gelnurte for the couple the day before
the wedding. He starts work on the design the moment dawn
breaks and must complete it as the sun sets in the evening sky.
The design is composed of lines and areas of colored sand
carefully scribed and detailed in a creation of breathtaking
ephemeral beauty that will be destroyed at the close of the
ceremony.

A tall pole marks the center of the design, with groups of long
ribbons gathered from it and secured to the four cardinal points
of the winds well clear of the sand painting. This symbolizes
the unity of the four winds contained within a whole and serves
a purpose later in the ceremony.

Reflecting a similarity to the River Elves, the bride does not
walk to her wedding. Instead, four well-matched servants bear
her there on a richly draped litter. She does not emerge from
the shadows of silk shielding her until the ceremony is about to
begin.

For the ceremony, the bride wears the bal galingen as a sort of
veil, with the sleeves pinned back to form a symbolic tent over
her. The dowry coat used in this manner is called "bal zapen"
and is only pinned for the wedding ceremony. Beneath it, the
bride wears a loose black silk robe which acts as the background
to display the extraordinary amount of jewelry she wears to
display her wealth and status.

The groom wears a long black silk coat with narrow tails over a
silvery silk shirt. His leggings are made of the same black
silk, tucked snugly into his low desert boots. He wears a vivid
crimson sash tied in a formal Elven knot about his hips.

The bride and groom meet in the center of the sand gelnurte
where the officiating monk bows deeply to them and immediately
begins to chant the words of Bile Janis oc Hul Haizeani. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, he removes from his robes an ornate
saltcellar and pours a generous handful into the outstretched
hands of the new wife. She pours the salt into the hands of her
new husband without spilling a grain, and, in turn he returns it
back to her waiting palms. This exchange repeats thrice,
symbolizing the ideal that as salt blends in and gives taste to
food, so must the bride blend in and become a part of her
husband. After the salt exchange, the monk holds out the
saltcellar to the couple, who carefully return all the salt to
the container. This saltcellar will occupy a position of
honor in the couple's home, signifying their unity.

The guests shower the couple with fragrant dried rose petals and
scramble to loose the ribbons from their moorings. With a wild
cry, the groom sweeps up his bride in his arms and removes her
from the sanctified area. The moment they are clear of the sand
design, the musicians begin to play a wild dance and every guest
who has managed to capture a ribbon begins a shuffling dance as
they weave in and out of the other ribbons. At the conclusion
of the music, the pole stands alone in a tightly braided coat of
silk ribbons with the sand painting completely obliterated by
the shuffling feet of the guests.

An extravagant wedding feast follows, which may last for an
andu. The bridal couple mingles with the guests during the
first day, accepting their good wishes.. After this, they slip
from the festivities and return to the groom's home, where they
follow the custom of secluding themselves
while they become accustomed to their new life together.

[[Category:Book]]

Marriage Among the Elves, Volume 5 (book) - Revision history