Middle Eastern and Asian Spousal Ceremonies
The illustrations and marriage customs included here cover a huge swath of the world—a swath that was complex, bustling, inventive, and innovative, despite many European narratives to the contrary. Picart’s engravings and Bernard’s commentary give a rich depiction of each marriage or spousal ceremony, covering hundreds of thousand of miles in under 400 pages. Nuptial ceremonies represented celebration and honor, and are without fail joyful, albeit exhausting, occasions. While the first two volumes focused exclusively on a singular religion, their commentary and depictions of indigenous peoples, in the Americas, Middle East, and Asia, make the turn towards ethnicity and region complete. Religious Ceremonies of the World becomes, in many ways, Traditions of the World, a clearly secular distinction. Once again, toleration and skepticism appear together for Bernard and Picart, in the East as everywhere else.