Marriage Practices

Running Head Marriage Practices

MARRIAGE PRACTICES 2 Marriage Practices Brianna Williams Ashford University DRAFT ON MARRIAGE PRACTICE IN INDIA AND AFRICA Thesis statement Marriage is a practice done by most cultures if not all in the world but different cultures differ on how they conduct the marriages, the minimum age required to marry and even they type of bride-wealth offered. In this paper I am going to discuss the marriage practices in India and Africa, how they differ and how they are related. Marriage practice in Africa. In Africa marriage is the third rite of passage after birth and initiation but before death which is the last rite of passage but it doesn’t mean end of life because they believed in life after death.

Marriage was actually the most important rite of passage and man who had not married was not considered a man and could not be an elder. On the other hand, women that were not married were considered as outcasts (Olmert, 1996). In African marriages, the parents of the girl choose the man they want to marry their daughter, normally the girl is always young and the man has to prove he is worthy of taking her hand in marriage therefore, the man will be required to work for the girls family and even look for ways of providing food by going to hunt with the father-in-law to who trains him. If the man does well and proves he can provide, he is required to pay dowry normally inform of live-stock. Marriage is sacred and divorce was not allowed unless the wife is adulterous, children were the main reason for marriage and not love and if the woman fails to bear children the man was always allowed to marry another girl.

Wife inheritance was also allowed just in case a brother dies and leaves a wife and children. The brother to the deceased was required to take in the wife and the children as his own and take good care of them. Children were most important and a man’s respect in the community depended with the number of wives and children the man possessed. Women and children were taken as property that the man owned and therefore, if you had many wives and children you become the most respected man in the community and when all those children are of age you become an elder and join the council of elders. Marriage practice in India To the Indians, there is no greater event to the family than a wedding and some parents always start marriage arrangements for their children as young as they are born and in some Indian communities children at the age of five were united for marriage as long as they loved each other.

Marriage in India is used to make wealth distribution and sign treaties of peace with neighboring communities. In India some families try and find marriage alliances with people far away from their kinship and are not related in blood, while communities look for marriage alliances in their kinship in order to strengthen the kinship ties. In many different cultures the man is the one to pay the bride wealth but in Indian communities it is the woman who pays the bride wealth and marries the man and it is the parent who arrange the marriages for their children. Wedding involves a lot of rituals that are normally done at the bride’s home (Martin, 1990). Children were not the main focus as they married for love, but children are important too to ensure the continuity of the family line and therefore Indian get one or two children but they are allowed to have more if they so wish.

In these marriages divorce is highly condemned and is only allowed when one of the couple is in adultery, is cruel or has mental disorder. Comparison between the two marriage traditions Differences · The African marriage allows the man to be polygamous but the Indian marriage does not, in African marriage the man is allowed to have sexual relations outside wed-lock and the woman is not but in the Indian both the man and woman are to remain faithful to each other. · In the Indian marriage, it is the woman’s parents who pay the bride-wealth while in the African marriage it is the man’s parent who provide bride-wealth. · Children were the basis for marriage in Africa but in the Indian it is love and some communities look for marriage alliances to sign peace treaties and strengthen kinship ties.

In Indian marriages women are valued and not treated as just property compared to the African where women were the property of the man. Similarities · In both, divorce was not allowed except in the case of adultery and mental disorder. · In both children are valued and are there to ensure the continuity of the family. · In both marriage is sacred and brings happiness to the families marrying. · In both marriage marked adulthood

References

• Martin, L. G., (1990). Changing intergenerational family relations in East Asia. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. California: University of California press.
• Olmert, M., (1996). Milton's Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella: Curiouser&Curiouser Adventures in History. New York: Simon & Schuster Publishers. p.155.
• Post, P., (2006). Emily Post's wedding etiquette. London: Collins publishers. p. 344.