Crown, Nuptial

Crown, Nuptial, was one with which persons just entering into the bonds of matrimony were decked. Newly married persons of both sexes among the Hebrews wore crowns upon their wedding-day. Among the early Christians the act of crowning the parties was the commencement of the marriage ceremony. This was done by the priest with due solemnity. On the eighth day the married pair presented themselves again in the church, when the minister, after an appropriate prayer, took off the nuptial crown and dismissed them with his solemn benediction. The ceremonies of coronation and dissolving the crowns are still observed in the Greek Church. The crowns used in Greece are of olive branches twined with white and purple ribbon; but in Russia they are of gold and silver, or, in country places, of tin, and are preserved as the property of the Church. Among the Jews, nuptial coronation continued until the beginning of the war under Vespasian; and crowns of roses, myrtle, and ivy are still used in Jewish marriages in many places.. SEE CORONA NUPTIALIS; SEE MARRIAGE.