Roman women were expected to remain virgins until marriage; the higher a girl's social rank, the earlier she was likely to become betrothed and married. The usual age of betrothal for upper classes girls was 14, but for patricians as early as 12. Weddings were often postponed until the girl was considered mature enough. The wedding ceremony was in part a rite of passage for the bride, as Rome lacked the elaborate female puberty rituals of ancient Greece. On the night before the wedding, the bride bound up her hair with a yellow hairnet she had woven. The confining of her hair signified the harnessing of her sexuality within marriage. Her weaving of the "tunica recta" and the hairnet demonstrated her skill and her capacity for acting in the traditional matron's role as "custos domi", "guardian of the house". On her wedding day, she belted her tunic with the "cingulum", made of ewe wool to symbolize fertility, and tied with the "knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be difficult to untie. The knot symbolized wifely chastity, in that it was to be untied only by her husband, but the "cingulum" also symbolized that the groom was bound to his wife. The bride's hair was ritually styled in "six tresses" "(seni crines)", and she was veiled until uncovered by her husband at the end of the ceremony, a ritual of surrendering her virginity to him.