Mini-Ethnology: Acceptance Of Marriage In Different Cultures
Mini-ethnology Paper
ANT 201-201
Kelsi Shawver
4/18/2014
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” This is something that most Americans are familiar with, or at least they are if they’ve been involved in a wedding. When Americans think wedding, they think big, white dresses, tiered cakes, being surrounded by family and friends, dancing, and of course the big kiss at the end of the ceremony to seal the deal. It’s the start of a new life for the bride and groom, together and out of the households of their parents.
According to the book, Cultural Anthropology by Conrad Kottack, marriage is defined as: “a union between a man and a woman such that the children born to the woman are recognized as legitimate …show more content…
offspring of both parents.” But this definition isn’t universally accepted to be true. Within various cultures marriage is symbolically represented through a range of very simple to elaborate weddings. A marriage usually changes the roles and responsibilities of two individuals within society. For instance, an individual’s expectation of personal finance may be changes to support both him/herself and their spouse. Marriage also sets the implications of permitted sexual access, setting boundaries for what is acceptable and when. However, these implications are also set based on the individual’s preference as well as the norms accepted in a particular culture. In other cultures, where the structure of things and how they’re done depends from culture to culture, there are many more ways that marriage can be defined. Many societies recognize plural marriages (polygamy) and same sex marriages, therefore rendering the aforementioned definition void.
A wedding represents far more than the union of two individuals - in fact, wedding traditions speak volumes about a culture. As mentioned before, there are many different practices and traditions when it comes to the marriage ceremony itself; ranging from huge, extravagant ceremonies, involving hundreds of people, to small, intimate family affairs. While weddings are important in both the Netherlands and in India, how they are conducted is as different as night and day. A Dutch wedding is more like a well-organized family affair, while an Indian wedding more closely compares to a large community gala.
The man and woman themselves are able to choose who they want or don’t want to marry in the Netherlands, but in India, the number of arranged marriages is around ninety percent of every marriage that takes place. The Dutch name for a wedding is Huwelijk and it means, marriage or matrimony. The ceremony is planned by the bride and groom along with help from the parents of both. It is usually a small affair, just immediate family and close friends, around sixty to one hundred people. The bride and groom are called the bruid and the bruidegom, which are just the Dutch words for bride and bridegroom. In India, the name for a wedding is Shaadi which means wedding. The bride and groom, or the dulhan and dulha, have no part in planning the ceremony, unlike in the Netherlands. All the planning is done by the bride’s family. It is not uncommon for there to be around one thousand people at a traditional Indian wedding. Usually the guests invited include: family (close and distant), acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues from work, business associates, basically everyone you know.
In the Netherlands, there is no particular time or season for the wedding to take place, but typically they have their weddings between the months of May and September. In order to be married, the couple must register with the town hall and receive permission to be married, which lasts for about a year. In India, the priest usually suggests a favorable date. The legal registration and such is all done separately and doesn’t have much impact on the celebration itself.
The ways in which the vows are taken are completely different between the two cultures. In the Netherlands, the way that the vows are taken is very similar to the way that vows are exchanged in the United States, a simple ceremony where the couple says their vows in front of a priest and their guests and exchange rings. But in India, the ceremony is extremely complex, incorporating fifteen different rituals. There are no actual vows as in the Western sense, but the Seven Steps, or Saptha Padhi, around a flame (a tribute to the fire god, Agni) spelling out the promises that the man and the woman are making to one another. This is the main and most legal part about the ceremony. They walk these seven steps around the fire, reciting a prayer at each step: the first for food, the second for strength, the third for prosperity, the fourth for wisdom, the fifth for progeny, the sixth for health, and finally, the seventh for friendship. A symbolic knot is tied after this part of the ceremony. (Prinja 2009)
In the Netherlands, much like in the United States, the bride’s attire is a white dress, a veil, and gloves, while the groom wears an inherited formal outfit.
In India, much as like the last area of the ceremony, is much, much more elaborate. For the bride, or the dulhan, a sari or a lehenga, which is highly ornate with gold and silver embroidery. The color of the sari or the lehenga is of great significance, and is different for different communities. The colors generally considered favorable for the occasion are: red, yellow, green, or white. Red is the most common and it symbolizes prosperity, fertility and saubhagya (marital bliss). She also wears a plethora of elaborate and beautiful pieces of jewelry made of gold and precious stones. Sometimes a veil is also worn, made to match her dress. Her groom wears a dhoti or a sherwani, which also has a lot of subtle but intricate detail and is usually a white, off-white, or beige color. In some cases he may also wear a turban and/or a sword.
In the Netherlands, there are really no restrictions on whom they can or cannot marry, but in India there are huge restrictions. A man or woman may not marry out of his/her caste, or his/her social standing. In most cases, the child does not even get to choose who he/she marries, the parents take care of arranging a marriage for their child. The most important thing to the parents of an Indian girl, is making sure that she is married off before she reaches the unmarriageable age of
thirty.
Marriage is an important part of American or Western culture, it is even more so in places such as India. The parents begin amassing a dowry for their female children from the moment they are born to be sure that they can secure a good marriage for her. In their culture, an unmarried woman is not much, for if she is not married, then she must not have many marriageable qualities…it is a vicious cycle.
In conclusion, there is not much that the two cultures have in common when it comes to marriage and the ceremonies that it involves. But both are large institutes in the make up of the structures in each culture. And both involve days full of happiness and laughter and the joining of two families into one.
Works Cited:
Prinja, Dr. Nawal K. "Weddings. ." BBC: Religions. British Broadcasting Channel, 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
ANT 201-201
Kelsi Shawver
4/18/2014
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” This is something that most Americans are familiar with, or at least they are if they’ve been involved in a wedding. When Americans think wedding, they think big, white dresses, tiered cakes, being surrounded by family and friends, dancing, and of course the big kiss at the end of the ceremony to seal the deal. It’s the start of a new life for the bride and groom, together and out of the households of their parents.
According to the book, Cultural Anthropology by Conrad Kottack, marriage is defined as: “a union between a man and a woman such that the children born to the woman are recognized as legitimate …show more content…
offspring of both parents.” But this definition isn’t universally accepted to be true. Within various cultures marriage is symbolically represented through a range of very simple to elaborate weddings. A marriage usually changes the roles and responsibilities of two individuals within society. For instance, an individual’s expectation of personal finance may be changes to support both him/herself and their spouse. Marriage also sets the implications of permitted sexual access, setting boundaries for what is acceptable and when. However, these implications are also set based on the individual’s preference as well as the norms accepted in a particular culture. In other cultures, where the structure of things and how they’re done depends from culture to culture, there are many more ways that marriage can be defined. Many societies recognize plural marriages (polygamy) and same sex marriages, therefore rendering the aforementioned definition void.
A wedding represents far more than the union of two individuals - in fact, wedding traditions speak volumes about a culture. As mentioned before, there are many different practices and traditions when it comes to the marriage ceremony itself; ranging from huge, extravagant ceremonies, involving hundreds of people, to small, intimate family affairs. While weddings are important in both the Netherlands and in India, how they are conducted is as different as night and day. A Dutch wedding is more like a well-organized family affair, while an Indian wedding more closely compares to a large community gala.
The man and woman themselves are able to choose who they want or don’t want to marry in the Netherlands, but in India, the number of arranged marriages is around ninety percent of every marriage that takes place. The Dutch name for a wedding is Huwelijk and it means, marriage or matrimony. The ceremony is planned by the bride and groom along with help from the parents of both. It is usually a small affair, just immediate family and close friends, around sixty to one hundred people. The bride and groom are called the bruid and the bruidegom, which are just the Dutch words for bride and bridegroom. In India, the name for a wedding is Shaadi which means wedding. The bride and groom, or the dulhan and dulha, have no part in planning the ceremony, unlike in the Netherlands. All the planning is done by the bride’s family. It is not uncommon for there to be around one thousand people at a traditional Indian wedding. Usually the guests invited include: family (close and distant), acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues from work, business associates, basically everyone you know.
In the Netherlands, there is no particular time or season for the wedding to take place, but typically they have their weddings between the months of May and September. In order to be married, the couple must register with the town hall and receive permission to be married, which lasts for about a year. In India, the priest usually suggests a favorable date. The legal registration and such is all done separately and doesn’t have much impact on the celebration itself.
The ways in which the vows are taken are completely different between the two cultures. In the Netherlands, the way that the vows are taken is very similar to the way that vows are exchanged in the United States, a simple ceremony where the couple says their vows in front of a priest and their guests and exchange rings. But in India, the ceremony is extremely complex, incorporating fifteen different rituals. There are no actual vows as in the Western sense, but the Seven Steps, or Saptha Padhi, around a flame (a tribute to the fire god, Agni) spelling out the promises that the man and the woman are making to one another. This is the main and most legal part about the ceremony. They walk these seven steps around the fire, reciting a prayer at each step: the first for food, the second for strength, the third for prosperity, the fourth for wisdom, the fifth for progeny, the sixth for health, and finally, the seventh for friendship. A symbolic knot is tied after this part of the ceremony. (Prinja 2009)
In the Netherlands, much like in the United States, the bride’s attire is a white dress, a veil, and gloves, while the groom wears an inherited formal outfit.
In India, much as like the last area of the ceremony, is much, much more elaborate. For the bride, or the dulhan, a sari or a lehenga, which is highly ornate with gold and silver embroidery. The color of the sari or the lehenga is of great significance, and is different for different communities. The colors generally considered favorable for the occasion are: red, yellow, green, or white. Red is the most common and it symbolizes prosperity, fertility and saubhagya (marital bliss). She also wears a plethora of elaborate and beautiful pieces of jewelry made of gold and precious stones. Sometimes a veil is also worn, made to match her dress. Her groom wears a dhoti or a sherwani, which also has a lot of subtle but intricate detail and is usually a white, off-white, or beige color. In some cases he may also wear a turban and/or a sword.
In the Netherlands, there are really no restrictions on whom they can or cannot marry, but in India there are huge restrictions. A man or woman may not marry out of his/her caste, or his/her social standing. In most cases, the child does not even get to choose who he/she marries, the parents take care of arranging a marriage for their child. The most important thing to the parents of an Indian girl, is making sure that she is married off before she reaches the unmarriageable age of
thirty.
Marriage is an important part of American or Western culture, it is even more so in places such as India. The parents begin amassing a dowry for their female children from the moment they are born to be sure that they can secure a good marriage for her. In their culture, an unmarried woman is not much, for if she is not married, then she must not have many marriageable qualities…it is a vicious cycle.
In conclusion, there is not much that the two cultures have in common when it comes to marriage and the ceremonies that it involves. But both are large institutes in the make up of the structures in each culture. And both involve days full of happiness and laughter and the joining of two families into one.
Works Cited:
Prinja, Dr. Nawal K. "Weddings. ." BBC: Religions. British Broadcasting Channel, 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.