1. Marriage Marital customs and laws

Lesson:English4

Group: 295.20

Teacher :Gulshan Aliyeva

Student: Quliyev Vusal

Topic:Marriage has many different functions in different cultures

1.Marriage

2. Marital customs and laws

3.Marriage rituals

Marriage, a legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners and accords status to their offspring .

Through the ages, marriages have taken a great number of forms.

Human beings, at the top of the evolutionary scale, require the most time of all species to reach maturity. This imposes increased duties on human parents for the care of their children, and marriage traditionally has been seen as the institution best suited to fulfill these parental duties and responsibilities.

Some form of marriage has been found to exist in all human societies, past and present. Its importance can be seen in the elaborate and complex laws and rituals surrounding it. Although these laws and rituals are as varied and numerous as human social and cultural organizations, some universals do apply.

Until the late 20th century, marriage was rarely a matter of free choice. In Western societies love between spouses came to be associated with marriage, but even in Western cultures romantic love was not the primary motive for matrimony in most eras, and one’s marriage partner was carefully chosen.

Endogamy, the practice of marrying someone from within one’s own tribe or group, is the oldest social regulation of marriage. When the forms of communication with outside groups are limited, endogamous marriage is a natural consequence. Cultural pressures to marry within one’s social, economic, and ethnic group are still very strongly enforced in some societies

Exogamy, the practice of marrying outside the group, is found in societies in which kinship relations are the most complex, thus barring from marriage large groups who may trace their lineage to a common ancestor.

Monogamy

Endogamy

Exogamy

Polygamy

The most universal ritual is one that symbolizes a sacred union. This may be expressed by the joining of hands, an exchange of rings or chains, or the tying of garments. However, all the elements in marriage rituals vary greatly among different societies, and components such as time, place, and the social importance of the event are fixed by tradition and habit.

These traditions are, to a certain extent, shaped by the religious beliefs and practices found in societies throughout the world. In the Hindu tradition, for example, weddings are highly elaborate affairs, involving several prescribed rituals. Marriages are generally arranged by the parents of the couple, and the date of the ceremony is determined by careful astrological calculations.

Among most Buddhists marriage remains primarily a secular affair, even though the Buddha offered guidelines for the responsibilities of lay householders.

In Judaism marriage is believed to have been instituted by God and is described as making the individual complete. Marriage involves a double ceremony, which includes the formal betrothal and wedding rites (prior to the 12th century the two were separated by as much as one year). The modern ceremony begins with the groom signing the marriage contract before a group of witnesses. This is followed by the ceremony under the huppa , which involves the reading of the marriage contract, the seven marriage benedictions, the groom’s placing a ring on the bride’s finger , and, in most communities, the crushing of a glass under foot

From its beginnings, Christianity has emphasized the spiritual nature and indissolubility of marriage. Jesus Christ spoke of marriage as instituted by God, and most Christians consider it a permanent union based upon mutual consent. Some Christian churches count marriage as one of the sacraments; other Christians confirm the sanctity of marriage but do not identify it as a sacrament. Since the Middle Ages, Christian weddings have taken place before a priest or minister, and the ceremony involves the exchange of vows, readings from Scripture, a blessing, and, sometimes, the eucharistic rite.

In Islam marriage is not strictly a sacrament but is always understood as a gift from God or a kind of service to God. The basic Islamic tenets concerning marriage are laid out in the Quran, which states that the marital bond rests on “mutual love and mercy” and that spouses are “each other’s garments.” Muslim men may have up to four wives at one time (though they seldom do), but the wives must all be treated equitably. Marriages are traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband, who must offer his bride the mahr, a payment offered as a gift to guarantee her financial independence.