Sociology & Anthropology (Courtship and Marriage)

 Courtship and marriage are the culmination of the
development that has taken place throughout the first
eighteen to twenty years of life. Courtship allows your
children to practice in a limited way the roles and
virtues necessary in marriage. Marriage permits them
to practice the roles and virtues necessary in eternal
life.
 Proper courtship is the phase during which your
children will decide whether or not to marry a specific
person It should not begin before your children have
nearly reached maturity.

 Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship
which precedes their engagement and marriage, or
establishment of an agreed relationship of a more
enduring kind.
 A courtship may be an informal and private matter
between two people or may be a public affair, or a
formal arrangement with family approval.
 Traditionally, in the case of a formal engagement, it
has been perceived that it is the role of a male to
actively "court" or "woo" a female, thus encouraging
her to understand him and her receptiveness to a
proposal of marriage.

 The average duration of courtship varies considerably
throughout the world. Furthermore, there is vast
individual variation between couples. Courtship may
be completely omitted, as in cases of some arranged
marriages where the couple do not meet before the
wedding.

 In Japan, there is a such type of courtship called
Omiai, with similar practices called "Xiangqin" (相親)
in the Greater China Area.
 Parents will hire a matchmaker to provide pictures and
résumés of potential mates, and if the couple agrees,
there will be a formal meeting with the matchmaker
and often parents in attendance. The matchmaker and
parents will often exert pressure on the couple to
decide whether they want to marry or not after a few
dates.

 Courtship in the Philippines is one known complex
form of courtship. Unlike what is regularly seen in
other societies, it takes a far more subdued and
indirect approach. It is complex in that it involves
stages, and it is considered normal for courtship to last
a year or longer. It is common to see the male showing
off by sending love letters and love poems, singing
romantic songs and buying gifts for the female. The
parents are also seen as part of the courtship practice,
as their approval is commonly needed before courtship
may begin, or before the female gives the male an
answer to his advances.

 In more closed societies, courtship is virtually
eliminated altogether by the practice of arranged
marriages, where partners are chosen for young
people, typically by their parents.
 Over recent decades though, the concept of arranged
marriage has changed or simply been mixed with other
forms of dating, including Eastern and Indian ones;
potential couples have the opportunity to meet and
date each other before one decides on whether to
continue the relationship or not.

 In earlier 1800s, young adults were expected to court with the
intention of finding a marriage partner, rather than for social
reasons.
 In more traditional forms of Christianity, this concept of
courtship has been retained, with John Piper defining courtship
and distinguishing this concept from dating, stating that:
 Courtship ordinarily begins when a single man approaches a
single woman by going through the woman's father, and then
conducts his relationship with the woman under the authority of
her father, family, or church, whichever is most appropriate.
Courtship always has marriage as its direct goal...Dating, a more
modern approach, begins when either the man or the woman
initiates a more-than-friends relationship with the other, and
then they conduct that relationship outside of any oversight or
authority. Dating may or may not have marriage as its goal.

 Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a socially or
ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses
that establishes rights and obligations between them,
between them and their children, and between them and
their in-laws.
 In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered
to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity.
When defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural
universal.
 In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child
marriage, polygamy, and sometimes forced marriage, may
be practiced as a cultural tradition.

 Monogamy is a form of marriage in which an individual has
only one spouse during their lifetime or at any one time
(serial monogamy).
 Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two
partners. When a man is married to more than one wife at
a time, the relationship is called polygyny, and there is no
marriage bond between the wives; and when a woman is
married to more than one husband at a time, it is called
polyandry, and there is no marriage bond between the
husbands. If a marriage includes multiple husbands and
wives, it can be called group marriage.

 A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses
are under the age of 18. It is related to child betrothal and
teenage pregnancy.
 Same-sex and third-gender marriages. As noted above,
several kinds of same-gendered, non-sexual marriages exist
in some lineage-based societies; this section relates to
same-gendered sexual unions. Some cultures include third-
gender (two-spirited or transgendered) individuals, such as
the berdache of the Zuni in New Mexico. We'wha, one of
the most revered Zuni elders (an Ihamana, spiritual leader)
served as an emissary of the Zuni to Washington, where he
met President Grover Cleveland. We'wha had a husband
who was generally recognized as such.

 Societies have often placed restrictions on marriage to
relatives, though the degree of prohibited relationship
varies widely. Marriages between parents and children, or
between full siblings, with few exceptions, have been
considered incest and forbidden.
 An Avunculate marriage is a marriage that occurs between
an uncle and his niece or between an aunt and her nephew.
Such marriages are illegal in most countries due to incest
restrictions. However a small number of countries have
legalized it, including Argentina, Australia, Austria,
Malaysia, and Russia.
 A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the
parties is married against their will. Forced marriages
continue to be practiced in parts of the world, especially in
South Asia and Africa.

A marriage bestows rights and obligations on the married parties, and sometimes
on relatives as well, being the sole mechanism for the creation of affinal ties (in-laws). These
may include, depending on jurisdiction:
 Giving a husband/wife or his/her family control over a spouse's sexual services, labor, and
property.
 Giving a husband/wife responsibility for a spouse's debts.
 Giving a husband/wife visitation rights when his/her spouse is incarcerated or
hospitalized.
 Giving a husband/wife control over his/her spouse's affairs when the spouse is
incapacitated.
 Establishing the second legal guardian of a parent's child.
 Establishing a joint fund of property for the benefit of children.
 Establishing a relationship between the families of the spouses.
These rights and obligations vary considerably between societies, and between
groups within society. These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal
establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and public
declaration of commitment

 Most jurisdictions set a minimum age for marriage,
that is, a person must attain a certain age to be legally
allowed to marry. This age may depend on
circumstances, for instance exceptions from the
general rule may be permitted if the parents of a young
person express their consent and/or if a court decides
that said marriage is in the best interest of the young
person (often this applies in cases where a girl is
pregnant).

 Laws banning "race-mixing" were enforced in certain
North American jurisdictions from 1691 until 1967, in
Nazi Germany (The Nuremberg Laws) from 1935 until
1945, and in South Africa during most part of the
Apartheid era (1949–1985).
 All these laws primarily banned marriage between
persons of different racially or ethnically defined
groups, which was termed "amalgamation" or
"miscegenation" in the U.S. The laws in Nazi Germany
and many of the U.S. states, as well as South Africa,
also banned sexual relations between such individuals.

 The first laws in modern times recognizing same-sex
marriage were enacted during the first decade of the 21st
century. As of July 2015, eighteen countries (Argentina,
Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United
Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay) and several sub-
national jurisdictions (parts of Mexico) allow same-sex
couples to marry. Finland has enacted a law to legalize
same-sex marriage which will come into force in March
2017. Bills allowing legal recognition of same-sex marriage
have been proposed, are pending, or have passed at least
one legislative house in Austria, Australia, Chile, Germany,
Ireland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan and Venezuela.

 The Bahá'í Faith encourages marriage and views it as a mutually
strengthening bond, but it is not obligatory. A Bahá'í marriage
requires the couple to choose each other, and then obtain the
consent of all living parents.
 Christian marriages are based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ
and the Apostle Paul. As of 2015 many[quantify] Christian
denominations regard marriage as a sacrament, as a sacred
institution, or as a covenant, but this was not always the case
before the 1184 Council of Verona officially recognized marriage
as a sacrament. Before then, no specific ritual was prescribed for
celebrating a marriage: "Marriage vows did not have to be
exchanged in a church, nor was a priest's presence required. A
couple could exchange consent anywhere, anytime."

 Divorce and remarriage, while generally not
encouraged, are regarded differently by each Christian
denomination. Most Protestant Churches allow people
to marry again after a divorce. The Eastern Orthodox
Church allows divorce for a limited number of reasons,
and in theory (but usually not in practice) requires
that a marriage after divorce be celebrated with a
penitential overtone. In the Roman Catholic Church
an annulment can end a marriage where the Church -
for special reasons - regards it as never having taken
place.

 For Protestant denominations, the purposes of
marriage include intimate companionship, rearing
children and mutual support for both husband and
wife to fulfill their life callings. Protestants are
generally not opposed to the use of birth control and
consider marital sexual pleasure to be a gift of God.
 Most Reformed Christians would deny the elevation of
marriage to the status of a sacrament, nevertheless it is
considered a covenant between spouses before God.

 Islam also commends marriage, with the age of marriage
being whenever the individuals feel ready, financially and
emotionally.
 In Islam, polygyny is allowed while polyandry is not, with
the specific limitation that a man can have no more than
four legal wives at any one time and an unlimited number
of female slaves as concubines, with the requirement that
the man is able and willing to partition his time and wealth
equally among the respective wives.
 From an Islamic (Sharia) law perspective, the minimum
requirements and responsibilities in a Muslim marriage are
that the groom provide living expenses (housing, clothing,
food, maintenance) to the bride, and in return, the bride's
main responsibility is raising children to be proper
Muslims.

 In Sunni Islam and Ahmadiyya Islam, marriage must
take place in the presence of at least two reliable
witnesses, with the consent of the guardian of the
bride and the consent of the groom. Following the
marriage, the couple may consummate the marriage.
 In Shia Islam, marriage may take place without the
presence of witnesses as is often the case in temporary
mut'ah marriage (prohibited in Sunni Islam), but with
the consent of both the bride and the groom.
Following the marriage they may consummate their
marriage.

 In Judaism, marriage is based on the laws of the Torah
and is a contractual bond between a man and a woman
in which the woman dedicates herself to be the
exclusive woman of a single man. This contract is
called Kiddushin. Though procreation is not the sole
purpose, a Jewish marriage is also expected to fulfill
the commandment to have children.[Gen. 1:28] The
main focus centers around the relationship between
the husband and wife.
 Kabbalistically, marriage is understood to mean that
the husband and wife are merging into a single soul.
This is why a man is considered "incomplete" if he is
not married, as his soul is only one part of a larger
whole that remains to be unified.

 Hinduism sees marriage as a sacred duty that entails
both religious and social obligations. Old Hindu
literature in Sanskrit gives many different types of
marriages and their categorization ranging from
"Gandharva Vivaha" (instant marriage by mutual
consent of participants only, without any need for even
a single third person as witness) to normal (present
day) marriages, to "Rakshasa Vivaha" ("demoniac"
marriage, performed by abduction of one participant
by the other participant, usually, but not always, with
the help of other persons).

 The Buddhist view of marriage considers marriage a
secular affair and thus not a sacrament. Buddhists are
expected to follow the civil laws regarding marriage
laid out by their respective governments.
 In a Sikh marriage, the couple walks around the Guru
Granth Sahib holy book four times, and a holy man
recites from it in the kirtan style. The ceremony is
known as 'Anand Karaj' and represents the holy union
of two souls united as one.
 Wiccan marriages are commonly known as
handfastings. Although handfastings vary for each
Wiccan they often involve honoring Wiccan gods. Sex
is considered a pious and sacred activity.

 In some societies, a marriages can be annulled, when an
authority declares that a marriage never happened.
Jurisdictions often have provisions for void marriages or
voidable marriages.
 A marriage may also be terminated through divorce.
Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are
Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981),
Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991), Ireland
(1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). As of 2012, the
Philippines and the Vatican City are the only jurisdictions
which do not allow divorce (this is currently under
discussion in Philippines) After divorce, one spouse may
have to pay alimony. Laws concerning divorce and the ease
with which a divorce can be obtained vary widely around
the world. After a divorce or an annulment, the people
concerned are free to remarry (or marry).

THANK
YOU!!!
By:
Banua, Jashmir Joyce
Cervas, Khristine Nikolae
Tan, Rovee Jewel

Sociology & Anthropology (Courtship and Marriage)

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Sociology & Anthropology (Courtship and Marriage)