The marriage ceremonies of the Thados are described by both McCulloch and Stewart, and do not seem to have changed at all during the 55 years that have elapsed since their accounts were written. Neither account, however, is quite complete. The bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, taking with them at any rate a portion of the sum to be paid for the bride, go to the village where the girl lives, and for three days the young men of the village wrestle with them. On arrival they are met with showers of filth from the children of the village. The girl's parents have to give a pig or a mithan and much zu to celebrate the occasion. At the conclusion of the feast the bride sets out for her future home dressed in her best and wearing a gong on her head. The actual marriage ceremony takes place in the house of the father of the bridegroom and consists of the thempu killing a fowl, feathers from the right wing being placed in the hair of the young couple. They then drink out of the same cup of zu, and the thempu, muttering charms, binds a cotton thread round their necks, which must be worn till it falls off from old age. The thempu then presents each with a comb. Only very near relatives may use the same comb. Stewart says husband and wife may share a comb, but my information is that uterine brothers and sisters may do so. A Lushai correspondent writes that among them the use of another man's comb may cause a headache, and that a person of a higher clan would be contaminated if he used the comb of a member of a lower one. To see whether the union will prove harmonious the thempu takes a hair from the head of each and moistens them in zu and then twists them together. If the hairs remain twisted all will go smoothly, but should they fly apart many bickerings and disputes are to be expected. The parents of the bridegroom give a feast to all concerned, and this completes the ceremony, but the young couple do not at once commence sleeping together. If they have not been previously acquainted they often sleep apart for a month, and for lesser periods according to the degree of their acquaintance. Eligible brides are even now carried off and married against the wishes of their parents, by ardent lovers belonging to powerful families.