Marriage Practices - Lemurian

From: “Lemuria: the Lost Continent of the Pacific”

by Wishar S. Cerve and James D. Ward  published 1931

Chapter 7 The Community Life of the Lemurians p.157

“… the young couple were denuded of every bit of clothing and every worldly possession of a material nature. They were then escorted in a sort of fiesta parade with much music, flowers, and cheering, to the edge of the city or community bordering upon the wilds of unoccupied and unsettled land. They were then directed to proceed at least fifty miles inland into the wilderness in the company of each other, but without any material things, not even a piece of metal or device of any kind…  They were instructed to go into the wilderness and remain for a given time, usually two moon cycles or approximately two months... If, upon their return, the young woman could show that she had some form of clothing, made from animal skins or from feathers and fiber, and had been well protected against the attack of animals, properly fed and nourished and provided with comfortable sleeping facilities wherever they were in the wilds of nature, and was convinced of the tenderness and devotion of the young man, and if he could show that he had secured proper food and protected himself against injuries and attacks from animals and could say that the young woman had been his helpmeet in every sense and that he was still fascinated by her charms and devoted to her, then a date was set for the marriage ceremony… If… either claimed that the other had shown an inability to secure and provide food, sleeping accommodations, clothing, or was lacking in devotion or attention, the marriage ceremony could not be performed… In other words, the couple had to prove their individual abilities to care for each other, support each other, and continue to love each other under the most trying and difficult circumstances… If such a test were applied today there would be few marriages, indeed.”