The Mystic Rose: a Study of Primitive Marriage

The Mystic Rose (1902), dealt with the anthropology of marriage. Author emphasised the importance of marriage ceremonies, explaining sexual and marriage custom with reference to taboo. Mr. Crawley has chosen a singularly inappropriate title. The first half of it is derived from the phrase applied by fantastic devotion to the virgin Mary. Its relation to the real Subject is, to say the least far-fetched. The second half is accordingly necessary not so much to explain as to explain away the first half. Yet even the second half does not succeed in correctly expressing the contents of the work. Properly speaking, the author has given us not a study of primitive marriage, but a study of taboo in relation to marriage. As such, it is an important contribution to the discussion of the many questions connected with the evolution of the human relation known as marriage.