The Traditional Scientology
Wedding Ceremony
(pages 70-79)
Attend!
Uncover and be still
You present here
In this
A holy place.
For we today
Shall marry here
This groom and bride
And wish them well.
Rejoice!
You line of struggling life
From eons gone to now
For here again
your track is sped
And winged into
A future fate
By this
A union of a man
and bride
Whose child shall pace
A further span
Of Destiny
And Life.
Forbear!
For here shall be
No calumny
Or whispered word against
You, man
Or woman thou
For this the union
you contract
Does wipe away
All sorrow
Of the past.
Speak out then now
If any man
Or girl would speak
And say here a
Reason why
These two should not
Be wed.
And silence heard
Does speak out plain
There's none.
So now
My (bride's name),
Stand steady here
And say
Do you today intend
For him beside you there
To be to him a wife?
(Answer)
And do you ken
That (groom's name) here
Shall have you
For his own?
Do you?
(Answer)
And do you understand
as well
That by the customs
of our race
You pledge to him
and only him
Your kiss and your caress?
Do you?
(Answer)
Well then
Know that Life is stark
And often somewhat grim
And tiredness
And fret and pain
And sickness do beget
A state of mind where
spring romance
Is far away and dead
And yet for valor
and for strength
You must abide and
Create still
His health, his purpose
and repose.
Do you?
(Answer)
And do you take
His fortune
At its prime and ebb
And seek
With him best fortune
For us all?
Do you?
(Answer)
Good then, (bride's name),
I'm sure you will
And surer yet you'll fare
Full well and staunchly
As a wife.
Now, (groom's name),
listen well.
The tides of fortune
and of life
Are sometimes fair
or grim
And in this life
the young man seeks
For victory afar
And often scants
the fireside
And turns away from
home's sweet face
And thinks
His loved ones cannot fare
At all
Beside his side.
And thinking thus they go.
You know this.
Then be cautioned so
And take thy own
Even though they sleep
Beneath foul straw
And eat
Thin bread
And walk on pavement
less than kind
And keep thy wife
and they who come
Beside thy side.
Keep them, (groom's name),
by your side
In rain or sleet
Or summer sun
And comfort them
And give them care
And share with them
thy life.
For times are changed
And woman's place
Is not a hearth or home
But striding out to victory
Beside her husband's side.
This (groom's name),
is a modern world
And man
Has changed.
But, (groom's name),
let's think on it well
For if stands aught in you
Of doubt
That you can take and keep
And love her well this wife
Then stay your hand
And we shall say
No more,
For fatal and of
full tight bind
Are these the words
I next will speak.
Shall I go on?
(Answer)
And you, (bride's name),
listen well
And you, (groom's name),
answer swift.
Prepared?
(Answer)
(Groom's name),
do you pledge to take
This woman for your lawful wife?
(Answer)
Do you, (groom's name),
Make promise here
Before us all
To keep her well
or ill?
Do you?
(Answer)
And when she's older
Do you then
Keep her still? Do you?
(Answer)
Now, (groom's name),
girls need clothes
And food and
Tender happiness and frills
A pan, a comb,
perhaps a cat
All caprice if you will
But still
They need them.
Do you then
Provide?
Do you?
(Answer)
Hear well, sweet
(bride's name),
For promise binds
Young men are free
and may forget
Remind him then
That you may have
Necessities and follies, too.
Now, (groom's name)!
Attend!
Do you, best man,
possess a ring?
(Groom's name),
take it please
And, (bride's name),
Your hand will he enclasp.
We have it now.
Repeat!
"I, (bride's name),"
(Answer)
"Do hereby take"
(Answer)
"You, (groom's name),"
(Answer)
"For my husband."
(Answer)
And, (groom's name),
Do now repeat
"I, (groom's name),"
(Answer)
"Do hereby take"
(Answer)
"You, (bride's name),"
(Answer)
"For my lawful wedded
wife."
(Answer)
Put on the ring!
Rejoice all here
For we have wed
Our (groom's name)
and our (bride's name)
And wish them well.
All here repeat!
Are they by witness
Man and wife?
(Answer)
Rejoice and go your many ways
Now, (groom's name), kiss
your bride
And hug her well
And all of you
Come toast and drink
Their health
That it may last
Until that day when death
Itself,
The severer of all ties
Shall end
The thing which
we have done
Today.
Dismiss