Very widely spread is the custom of calling the bridegroom and the bride “king” and “queen,” and of treating them as a royal pair during the whole period of the wedding festivities. The reason for this was originally that, by means of change of identity, the bridal pair might avoid the mysterious dangers which were supposed to be present. The idea presumably was that a disguise puzzled the malign visitors so that they did not know on whom to vent their spleen. It is evident that a similar purpose was served by the custom of substituting a mock bride for the real one, or of bride and bridegroom being attended by one or more persons dressed up to resemble her or him; Crawley gives interesting illustrations of both customs[345]. Some other dances in connexion with the marriage ceremony are considered; they have either the purpose of counteracting the evil influences already referred to; or else, as there are some reasons for believing, they were supposed to ensure a fruitful marriage. It is not to be expected that we should find any trace of these purposes in the Old Testament; but the analogy of Bedouin Arab custom and that of the Jews at later periods offers presumptive evidence that the customs existed among the Israelites, though their original purpose was entirely forgotten. CHAPTER XI DANCING AS A MOURNING AND BURIAL RITE I There is no instance to be found in the Old Testament of dancing being performed as a mourning or burial rite; that must be acknowledged; yet in spite of this there are strong reasons for believing that the custom did exist among the Israelites. The silence does not imply that the rite was not in vogue; there are, also, sufficient reasons to account for the absence of reference to it. In the first place, excepting incidentally we should not necessarily expect it to be mentioned at all; it was not a public rite; if it had been one might conceivably have looked for some reference to it in the records, supposing it to have been performed on some great or special occasion; but as a private rite there was no reason for its being recorded in Hebrew literature. Another reason for its not being mentioned is because its original significance and importance had, it may be confidently asserted, been forgotten; like some other mourning and burial customs it would have been kept up for no other reason than that it had been handed down from time immemorial; so that there was no point in speaking of it. Moreover, in the case of some other Israelite mourning customs there is only here and there incidental mention in the Old Testament, although some of them were certainly very often practised, _e.g._ flute-playing, laceration of the body (modified later by the rending of the garment), cutting off of the hair, baring the feet, covering the head, the funeral feast; it might easily have happened in the case of any one of these that the incidental mention had not occurred