they dance with the handkerchief, being extremely
jealous of allowing the hands of their wives to be touched. So also with
the collection of the presents from the relatives and guests in
profusion; and this takes place after the groom has offered them
something to eat three times, on which account the ovens are filled with
meat, with kettles of rice cooked in milk, the wine constantly going the
rounds.[25]

In Milazzo the dance "threatens the existence of the bride," to cite an
historian of the place. Here, as elsewhere, the groom has a patron, a
gentleman to whom he lends his services, and by whom he is rewarded, not
always generously. At the ball the bride knows that if the patron or
other gentleman of the city dance with her, he will leave a silver piece
in her hand; and if her partner is of her own rank, it will not remain
empty. So she summons up all the strength of her limbs and spends hours
and hours in dancing; for dancing with the new bride that evening is an
occasion for boasting.

However rich the popular songs of Sicily are, they are very poor in
nuptial-songs. Among the many thousand that have seen the light the
following, from Cianciana and Casteltermini, is characteristic, because
peculiar to the evening of the wedding: "Come and sing this evening to
the bride and groom. Oh what joy! what delight! (You, O wife!) hold the
seat of power: when the sun appears you rise. There are pleasant sights,
with dress of gold and all embroidered. This song is sung to the bride
and groom. Good-day! long life and health!"[26] The following song, from
Borghetto, is a greeting to the pair on their return from the church:
"Long live in health the bride and groom! What a beautiful and fortunate
marriage! Let the mind be firm and the heart constant. And so we come to
the happy day. I would that my words were as sweet as those of a song,
and my lute well tuned! A hundred years I would sing new songs. Long
live love and marriage!" This other song, from Palermo, a variant of one
already published, is also an expression of good wishes for the pair:
"Health to this excellent pair! What a fine and gallant wedding! The
bridegroom seems like a resplendent sun, and the bride like a Greek from
the Levant. How many obstacles there have been! The stars of heaven go
before. Now the bride and groom are happy: the diamond is set in gold."

At the ball the singing is done alternately by some of the guests. The
favorite song in the cities i