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Cultural Diversity in Marriage Ceremonies The tradition of wedding ceremonies goes back to the Bible times. The wedding ceremony in its nature has two origins, two aspects, the national (ethnic) and religious one. According to the Bible the marriage is one of the seventh sacraments i. e. christening, wedding, confession, extreme unction, receiving communion, anointing and priesthood.
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. " That conjugal unit was made in Eden i. e. before the Fall. This is the first purpose of the conjugal unit.
Another purpose of the conjugal unit is the procreation. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue . In spite of the big variations in different countries, the wedding ceremonies have a lot of common. First of all, it is the alliance between a man and a woman based on the common to all mankind values and feelings. First of all is love which is the basis of the universe. Then it is the natural function of human beings, reproduction.
In some societies the historic background of the marriage is foreseen. It forms not only the families with their traditional characteristics, but also controls the relations between the exogamous groups (clans or lineages). Men form alliances between the groups by exchanging the women thus providing peaceful co-existence. While speaking of marriage we could mark three aspects of it. It is the religious, civil, and the ethnic one. Civil unions are widely spread now all over the world but for nearly a thousand years the marriage was the subject of the religious union only.
Monogamy is the form prevailing almost everywhere; still in some countries with the Islam religion polygamy is also allowed. One of the reasons of polygamous marriages is to cement the bonds between several men by mutually beneficial marrying their sisters and daughters to escape hostility relations. Polyandry (having some husbands) is very rare and occurs in some Indian, Tibetan and Marquesas of Polynesia tribes. If we study the common features of the wedding traditions of various nations we will see a lot of common.
First of all it is the solemnity of the ceremony, holiness of it. The bride in many countries has a wreath (garland) on. It symbolizes the victory over the passion. This wreath shows the sanctity of the ceremony.
It indicates that the alliance is consecrated by the church on behalf of the Maker. The wedding rings exchange is another tradition that is present almost in the wedding ceremonies of any nation disregarding the confession. The wedding rings symbolize never-ending love of the young couple and their commitment to one another. The ancient Romans believed that the vein in the third finger ran directly to the heart, so wearing the ring on that finger joined the couples hearts and destiny. In many ceremonies the bride has a veil on that symbolizes her modesty. The wedding ceremony is the part of this or that countrys cultural, religious and ethnic tradition, that is why it varies in different countries.
Let us look through the most remarkable and specific features of the wedding in some countries. The United States of America. While speaking of wedding in the USA it is worth to note that one can hardly find any other country in the world with such a vast variety of nations, religious traditions and the ethnics. All the ethnic and religious groups have their own rites. The most common wedding ceremony has the Christian background and based on the British wedding tradition. After the ceremony the wedding bells are ringing scaring away evil spirits that could destroy the happiness of the newly married couple.
Americans follow a number of traditions and celebrations connected with the wedding. The girlfriends of the bride present her small specific gifts. On the eve of the wedding the grooms parents arrange the rehearsal dinner by which they express their hospitality to a new family. Another traditional ritual is tossing the bouquet. Bride also tosses her garter. This is for single men who are present at the ceremony.
It is believed that the man who catches the garter will be the next to get married. Russia. Russian tradition of wedding goes back to pagan times. There was match maker, a person, normally woman, who arranged everything. Parents had a very big influence on their children and very often they decided the destiny of their children. The dominant religious in Russia is Orthodox Church, one of the branches of Christianity.
When parents decided to wed a boy, they chose his future spouse. Then they sent the matchmaker to make the proposal. Young people did not normally enter the house until the matchmaker settles the issue. The matchmaker in a very strange some allegorical manner negotiated the future marriage. Ukrainian traditions, having the common with Russian history were almost the same.
When the matchmaker settled all details she went back and announced the result. Ukrainians had a very funny rite of giving the pumpkin to the boy if the girls parents do not want him to marry their daughter. That was the ultimate disgrace for the young man. Of everything was settled on the wedding day young people went to a church accompanied with the relatives, friends and guests. In the church they gave their vows to each other, the preacher crowned them with the crowns and announced them newly married couple.
There was no vow stronger than that pronounced in front of altar. They exchange their wedding rings. When a couple is announced the husband and the wife, they take the glass of Champaign each and after taking it throw the glasses on the floor. This symbolizes the ringing bells. It is believed that the broken glass brings the happiness to the young people.
Wedding party is going on for several days, normally the weekend. There are some funny rites during the wedding dinner. Young boys try to steal as a joke the brides shoe for which the groom must pay some small money to get it back. Sometimes the girl hides and her friends announce to the boy they stole her and the boy has to pay some small money to get his wife back. Unfortunately, during the Soviet times all these traditions were partially lost, but now they are rising back. India.
India has very old cultural and religious traditions. The most distinctive feature Indian wedding differs from the other nations wedding in is that it remained almost unchangeable within thousands of years. India is a multi confessional, multi national and multi caste country. There is a wide variety of religions being practiced. One thing that makes Indian wedding tradition different from that in any other country is that that the marriage completely depends upon the decision of the bridegrooms parents. They are looking for his bride and make the arrangement with her parents on the wedding union.
Nothing depends upon the girl. Parents can even order her to marry the unknown young man and she has to obey. That is why the Indian matrimonial system is called preliminary arranged marriage. In Western Bengal after the preliminary arrangement between the parents they organize two meetings called blessing, first one in the house of the bride, and the second in the bridegrooms. Young people get the gifts from the parents, relatives and give presents to one another. At the wedding day young couple is not allowed to take any food up to the ceremony of wedding.
The girls, relatives of the boy are singing the songs at the house of the future husband. A very specific ritual of praising the yellow color takes place. The Indians associate the yellow color with the Sun and it symbolizes the faithfulness. People paint their forehead with yellow, and then strew each other with the yellow powder. After this the father of the groom lists the names of the dead relatives in solemn voice as if calls them to witness that their descendant is marrying. Then all are coming to the house of the girl where the ceremony is repeated.
The ceremony of the wedding itself takes place in the evening in the house of the girl. All are coming to the specially built temple. The boy enters the temple and waits when the girl is brought in special wooden palanquin. She is dressed in an expensive sari. He is taken 7 times around the boy and then the porters stop and ask young people to have a look into eyes of one another. This glance is called the very first glance.
After all are going to the place where the preacher listen to the 7 vows of the young people, pray and join them with the flower garland. The groom put the red paint on the forehead and the hair parting of the girl and they are the newly married couple since that moment. The fest is going on all the night through. It is some sort of show. The wedding parties are different depending upon the geographic location, prosperity of the families and the other factors. Sometimes there are up to 700 800 guests invited.
China. In Chinese traditions the red color is prevailing. It symbolizes love, prosperity and the happiness. Before the wedding party the groom meets her closest friends and mourns symbolically her departure with the friends and the family. Sometimes before the wedding ceremony the parents of the groom sends the gifts to the house of the bride.
These gifts are packed into the red basket. The date of the wedding is carefully chosen according to the astrological signs. On the wedding morning the groom comes to the brides house with some gifts and cash in red tissue, which he gives to the brides friends for the symbolical permission to let her go. Then they are coming to the chapel. The role of a matchmaker in China is very significant. Before the proposal she asks the girl to submit a document indicating eight items, the year, month, day of the month and hour of the girl's birth.
Then this document is forwarded to the astrologist for the astrological prognosis. The date of the betrothal is scheduled after the astrological experts conclusion only. Two families bargain on the amount of money and the presents to be gifted to the girls family. The most significant gifts are considered to be the tea, sweets and tobacco.
The bridal cakes received from the boys family is distributed among the relatives and the friends of the girl. The preparation to the wedding day is very significant in the Chinese ceremonies. The bride lives in seclusion with her closest friends. These days are very sad for the girl. She is mourning her separation from the family. One of the interesting rituals in China is the hairdressing symbolizing the girls entering into the adult life.
A good luck woman is assisting her to have her hair done. After the hair is done the girl is dressed in a very picturesque dress, mainly in red coolers. Her face is covered with a veil, made of red silk, or the feathers of the Phoenix bird. A grooms procession is coming to the girls house accompanied with the dim of firecrackers, loud gongs and drums. The wedding ceremony itself is simple comparing with its preparations. The bride and groom are conducted to the family altar were they pay homage to heaven and Earth.
The food served at the wedding banquet is very symbolic. Each dish course symbolizes happiness, longevity, or fertility. Another purely Chinese tradition is serving the tea. Tea is of great significance in China. When a bride serves the tea to her parents she shows the respect and thanks her parents. When newly married couple takes their tea they put some seeds of lotus into the cups.
The ancient Chinese believed that seeds would help to produce the children every year. Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a multi confessional country. There are various religions are presented.
There are traditional African pagan believers, Muslims and Christians. We should describe here the Christian tradition of wedding. The wedding is thoroughly negotiated by the parents of the young people. According to the tradition the bride must be virgin when the marriage takes place. The wedding ceremony is filled with the African peculiarities, namely traditional dances, drums playing etc. A very important factor of marriage in Ethiopia and in Africa in general is a tribal factor.
Normally young boys try to marry the girls from the same tribes. The tribal factor is very strong in Africa. Thus, some Africans have the special, tribal marks on the face. These marks are the scars which are made to them when they are the small kids. One of the versions of these scars origin is to avoid the kidnapping.
Children used to be kidnapped and the facial scars were attributes of this or that tribe. Another interesting peculiarity of marriages in Africa is that after the divorce children normally stay with the fathers, because fathers are able to support them financially. One more interesting thing is the institution of chieftaincy in Africa. Apart from the traditional power branches there is the chieftaincy branch in many countries, which is sometimes is very influential. So, the wedding ceremonies, though having common principles stated in the Bible and other holy books differ greatly all over the world. Bibliography: Shu Shu Costa.
Wild Geese and Tea: Asian-American Wedding Planner. NY: Riverhead Books, 1997 Schwerdtfeger, Anne. Ethnological Sources of the Christian Marriage Ceremony. Stockholm: Ceres, 1982. Citation: - Genesis, 2: 18 - Genesis, 1: 28
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Research essay sample on Ethnic And Religious Wedding Ceremony
