Wedding Customs Throughout History
The origin of the marriage ceremony
Some form of marriage has existed as far hack in antiquity as history can penetrate and we can be fairly certain that some sort of pairing existed even before recorded history. In its most primitive form, it appears to have been a pairing monogamy, similar to the pairing common among the higher animals.
From the most savage and primitive cultures through our present-day civilization, a ceremony has marked the union between a man and a woman. Usually the ceremony has been religious in character; among some peoples it was magical; among a few, merely social.
Primitive monogamy branched out into other forms of marriage: polygamy a plurality of wives or of husbands at the same time; polygyny a plurality of wives or concubines, the mating of one male with several or more females; polyandry the possession by a woman of more than one husband at a time. Deviations from monogamy are practiced more frequently by the wealthier classes. A man needs to be wealthy to support more than one wife; indeed in some countries, a man's income is judged by the number of wives and concubines he possesses.
The most common form of marriage has always been monogamy principally because of the economic factor: a man can support one wife and one home better than several. A monogamous relationship resulted in a stronger family group, and the stronger the family group, the more secure the community.
How the choice of mate has evolved
Primitive selection of a mate seems to have been a matter of free choice with the male as wooer, and the female accepting or rejecting. Among warlike tribes, marriage by capture was common because of social and military honour attached.
Then there developed among ancient tribes a wife-purchase custom. A marriage pact was arranged by the parents of girls and boys on a business deal basis. Property and valuables were exchanged under the term "bride-price." This custom has survived through the years, and many instances exist even today.
One odd form of courtship combined both elements of capture and purchase. It seems that the bride was actually bargained for and sold, but she was sent away from her father's camp on a swift horse, carrying her dowry with her. She was to ride furiously, and the bridegroom to give chase, and if he captured her before dark (as he always did) he might claim her. Or if he abducted his bride before paying for her, the purchase price was supposed to be a fine for his offence. Payment was originally in the form of desirable assets livestock, for instance, in an agricultural community. Later the sealing of the bargain was represented by a gift to the bride in the form of a bracelet, jewel, etc. The Romans early recognized three forms of marriage. First, the patrician families were accorded a religious form which was solemnized by the Pontifex Maximus in the presence of ten witnesses. Among the plebeians, the marriage was in the form of a purchase or rather a mock sale of both parties. The third form was the usus which began among the lower classes, but finally prevailed in all strata of society. Through this form, the woman was given in marriage into the hands of her husband who acquired thereby all rights over her person and property. In this form of marriage, however, it was required that the consent of both contracting parties be obtained.
Marriage among the early Teutonic peoples, although attested to by ceremonials, was chiefly a form of barter. A survival of the ancient tribal marriage-by-purchase custom, these marriages were arranged by the parents of the bride and groom upon agreement on terms of payment in the form of money, lands, cattle, jewels, or other valuables. By the 18th and 19th centuries, church weddings were required by Acts of Parliament in England, but in Scotland, informal marriages were still recognized by the law. Thus can many remnants of ancient marriage customs be discerned in our customs today: some grooms still ask the parents of his chosen bride for her "hand"; the father still "gives away" the bride; the bride and groom marry each other by their own consent.
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