"After the five minutes have passed, the bride is led out of the room to
a room where the women-guests are assembled, while the bridegroom goes
to a room where the men-guests are. The feasting lasts for a few hours
in each room. Then the bride is led by some of her women friends to the
room where the men are, and the bridegroom takes her by the hand and
starts dancing; the other guests follow suit. It is amusing to see the
old grey-bearded scholars, who, one would think, could not move their
legs, dance and rejoice while the lookers-on clap and sing. It is far
more exciting than a wedding in London, for it is considered a 'Mitzvah'
to rejoice with a young bridal couple.

"The dancing goes on for some time, the only miserable pair, I expect,
are the bride and bridegroom, who generally become very weary of it
all, for they started their wedding pilgrimage very early in the morning
and had fasted till the feasting began late in the afternoon--I often
wonder that they have any energy left in them, poor things, for they
cannot retire till late at night.

"The next day comes the ceremony of cutting off the bride's hair. The
bridegroom's mother hands her a few silk handkerchiefs to be worn on her
head on special occasions. Sometimes the poor little bride is so young
that she cries while her beautiful plaits are being cut off.

"At times a quarrel begins between the two mothers: the bride's mother
sometimes insisting that her child's hair shall only be cut short and
not shaved, and she generally gets her way.

"Some brides do not mind being shaved, for they like the idea of wearing
the pretty coloured silk handkerchiefs.