Same-sex marriage: partners who are married and have the same sex.

Polygamy: both men or women having multiple spouses.

Polyandry: a woman with multiple husbands.

Monogamy: marrying one individual person.

Exogamy: a traditional where partners must be from different communities.

Endogamy: a tradition where partners must be from the same local community.

Cousin marriage: a marriage between cousins.

Common law marriage: an informal form of marriage that considers people who have lived together for a certain period of time as married.

As the Industrial Revolution began to make materials less expensive and Hollywood popularized the concept in movies, more and more families began incorporating white wedding gowns. It was then that they began to symbolize purity and innocence in addition to wealth. White wedding dresses became globally recognized in the early 1900s among middle-class families in Europe and the US. Following suit, the same dresses began to pop up among citizens that could afford the expensive materials. Citizens often followed the fashion choices of the royal family and Queen Victoria decided to go against the fashion standards of the day when she decided to wear a white wedding dress with lace on the neck and sleeves. The white wedding dress is one prime example, because it wasn’t made popular until 1840 with the reign of Queen Victoria in England. When did it become popular to wear a white wedding dress?Īlthough marriage is a tradition that goes back thousands of years, the trends and styles attached to it are constantly in flux. Nowadays, there have become more clashes between family religious traditions and modern law. According to some religions, marriage is a permanent contract and is not possible to divorce, even after finalizing the surrounding legal proceedings on behalf of the government. Religious texts also gave married couples additional rights, especially when it came to becoming intimate, though there were also rules attached to marriage as well, monogamy in particular. Marriage also has strong ties with religion, which is still present today considering how many marriages take place in churches at the hands of a priest or pastor. Whether that was required, in which form, and to which extent depends heavily on the family and cultural background. With a dowry, the bride’s family gives money to the groom’s family and with a bride price, the groom’s family gives money to the bride’s family. Historically (and still to some extent now), marriage also involved the concept of dowry or bride price. There was often no form of courtshop and women often didn’t have equal rights within their marriage. There were also differences in equality among men and women. Both men and women typically didn’t have much say in who they married either, as it was mostly up to their families and patriarchs. It was purely for economic reasons and had little to do with love. The original concept developed out of necessity: marriage helped royal families protect their bloodlines, granted family property rights, acted as a method for families to reach a new leg up in society, and even became a method of avoiding incest.

The first mention of marriage is found in ancient Hebrew texts from the Old Testament dating back a few thousand years ago but likely began long beforehand.

Let’s take a look back at how marriage got started and what it has evolved into today. China: The bride wears a red veil to cover her face and her mother holds a red umbrella over her head while she is escorted to the wedding to symbolize boldness, luck, and love.Īlthough the concept of the white wedding dress has become widely recognized, there are many more unique wedding traditions across history and various cultures.

Guatemala: In order to welcome the newlyweds to the wedding reception party, the groom’s mother breaks a white bell filled with flour, rice and grains, which brings luck and prosperity to the new couple.

Kenya: When newlyweds leave the village, the bride’s father spits on her head and chest in order to improve her chances of finding good fortune.

Jamaica: As opposed to a white wedding cake, they use a black cake made of fruits and rum similar to fruit cakes served at Christmas.

He has to find a way to bribe them to return the shoes in order to leave.

India: The bride’s sister(s) trick the groom upon entering the wedding tent by stealing his shoes.

Scotland: On the night before the wedding, the bride and groom drink heavily and are covered with treacle, ash, feathers, and flours in order to ward off evil spirits.

Korea: Grooms give their new mother in laws a wild goose or duck to convey his good intentions with the bride.

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