Any librarian who has to find information about wedding customs around the world will welcome this volume. It begins with a chapter on religious weddings and includes information on ceremonies from the Baha'i, Zen Buddhist, Eastern Orthodox, Hindu, and Jewish traditions, among others. Following the section on religious weddings are chapters on Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. These chapters are subdivided by country, an approach that allows the reader to find information on weddings in Greece, Sri Lanka, or Zambia, to name a few examples. The length of entries of each country ranges from a few paragraphs to two or three pages and seems to depend on how much information the author was able to find. Some entries include illustrations and sidebars that describe typical customs and ceremonies. All entries cite the source or sources for the information. These citations are sometimes insufficient. Only author and title are given, a problem since many of the sources do not seem to be included in the bibliography at the end of the volume.
The chapter on royalty provides descriptions of modern royal weddings, such as the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince (called Princess here) Rainier III of Monaco; also included here is the John F. Kennedy^-Jacqueline Bouvier wedding. A glossary, a bibliography, and an index complete the volume. The Board noted some errors in the bibliography, and works are not cited in a consistent style. A few Web sites are listed, but no URLs are provided.
Mordechai gathered her information from many different sources, including anthropological journals, clergy, embassies, wedding magazines and guides, libraries, and interviews. In her introductory note, she states that she could not cover all variations in wedding customs and welcomes information to consider for a second edition. Although not a source to be used for serious research, this book should prove very useful in public libraries.
Review
This comprehensive, oversize guide to wedding customs and rituals throughout the world begins with summaries of the customs and wedding ceremonies of the world's religions. Then follow accounts of the courtship and marriage of over 100 countries . . . of royal marriages in 13 countries. Mordecai provides much background information and many accounts are illustrated with photographs. --
W. Charles Heiser, S.J., Theology Digest. Saint Louis University
