A brief look at marriage: On bended knee

Sorry its been so long since my last post but here is a post about something that is definitely on my heart and mind these days... marriage!

The origins of marriage predate written record and are thus relatively unknown. Many people point to the Bible for its origin with God creating Eve specially for Adam in the Garden of Eden. Matthew 19:4-6 basically stating that man and woman would leave their families and become one through marriage. Being joined before God they would be inseparable by works of man.

Marriage in its origins was not about love or romance but it was about alliance. Families were strategic about who their children would marry. At times marriages created peace between warring tribes and at other times marriage might gain a family more favor by marrying above their class. Marriage was a tool developed to help the family in some way. Louis Demont (1953) noted that Native American tribes such as the Iroquois, Dravidians, and Australian aborigines alike all used marriage as a way to form alliance bonds with other families (Kohler 1975: 39). Bonded linguistic systems within Native American tribes such as the Crow-Omaha language show the end result of long formed alliance marriages (Kohler 1975: 257). Arranged marriages were considered to be the antithesis of a blood-feud. Meaning that when two tribes or families were in blood-feud and this feud or war was depleting resources to the point of degradation for both parties the basic solution would be an alliance (McLennan 1865:104-105). These institutionalized alliances could be the creation of new tribes or groups or even possibly new nations.

Polyandry and Polygyny both following under polygamy were the ruling forms of marriage at its origin. Polyandry is when a woman marries more than one husband, this is typically found in a matriarchal society. Polygyny is when a man marries more than one wife found in patriarchal societies. These forms of marriage had nothing to do with promiscuity or a carnal desire to mate with more than one woman but was more practically a way to deal with unfortunate disparities between gender populations or at times rank preferences within the society.

It has only been within the last 250 years or so that love and romance have become factors in a marriage, and still to this day that is not the number one reason for marriage in all cases. However, in many arranged marriages today, such as found in India, China, Singapore and South Korea, young adults tend to get the chance to meet and learn about their soon to betrothed fairly in advance. At times in some families, the potential couple even has some say in whether the arranged marriage is a good one that will last. There are many facets and differences when you look at marriage today to days past but I hope you all enjoyed this brief glance at marriage.

References:

Demont, Louis. 1953.
Hirsch, Jennifer S. and Wardlow, Holly. 2009. Modern Loves: The Anthropology of Romantic Courtship and Companionate Marriage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Kohler, Josef. 1975. On the Prehistory of Marriage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.