A posthumous wedding. The tradition of Ghost Marriage differs from place to place. It was performed mostly for those who died at a young age without ever having married, to bring them happiness in the afterlife.
Participants would be represented by an effigy or a photograph during the ceremony in which their soul is wed to a living groom or bride. On Mt. Hikami, the weddings took place between sacrificed shrine maidens and Outsiders brought to the mountain.
The practice was carried out in order to strengthen the maidens drowned in the Shadowspring as Pillars; they were believed to last longer when joined in the darkness by a partner.
The grooms were free to choose which shrine maiden they wanted to marry.
If the wedding was successful, the bride would take the man back with her to the casket in which she had been drowned. In the event the wedding did not go as planned, the groom would be shut in a reliquary and placed in the water.
FF5M:Ghost Marriage
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Memo: Ghost Marriage
Obtained: Beginning of Eleventh Drop
Type: Terminology
幽婚（ゆうこん）
死後婚。冥婚とも呼ばれる。
若くして亡くなるなどして、生前に伴侶を
得られなかった者に、死後に伴侶を添え
ることで冥福を祈る風習。
絵馬などに婚礼の光景を描き奉納する、
人形や写真などをあいてに形式的な婚礼
を挙げるなど、地方により違いがある。
日上山では、永久花として柩籠の中で
一人水の底に沈む巫女を慰めるため、
マレビトを招き入れ、幽婚を行う。
それは同時に、巫女が柱としてより永らえる
ようにする儀式でもある。
幽婚が成立した巫女は、永久花と
しての役割をより永らえる。
幽婚の際、巫女は既に永久花とされ
ているため、マレビトは弔写真を見て
伴侶となる巫女を選ぶ。
幽婚が成立したマレビトは巫女と共に
柩籠に入り、柱として沈められた場所へと
戻っていく。
幽婚が失敗した場合は匪に入れられ、
山の水へと帰される。