10 unorthodox forms of marriage, many of which are still found today
It is believed that traditional marriage between a man and a woman has been the standard throughout human history. But despite the fact that such unions were indeed the most common form of marriage, in parallel there were other concepts of the family institution, which will be discussed in our review.
Polyandry is a form of marriage in which one woman is married to several men. Throughout history, this type of relationship has been extremely rare. In the modern world, polyandry is practiced in several remote villages on the Tibetan Plateau.
In cultures where polyandry was adopted, it was often used to preserve family property in regions with limited arable land and high fertility. In fact, it was a form of family planning: most often, a group of brothers married a woman of the same age, after which they lived and worked together. The children in the family called the eldest husband "father", and the other husbands - "uncle".
Under this system, marriage is not considered as a union of two persons, but as a union between families. Such a marriage emphasizes the rights and obligations between related groups. In levirate, a man marries the widow of his deceased brother. In some cases, children born from a union are considered children of the first husband. Levirate is practiced in tribal communities in North and South America, Africa, India, and Australia.
In sororat, which is practiced among the tribes of North America and India, the relatives of a deceased woman offer her sister to a widower. In some cultures, sororat is concluded if the first wife turns out to be infertile.
In the ancient Islamic world, a temporary marriage was popular, which was also sometimes called an urgent marriage. Between a man and a woman, a contract for married life was concluded for a certain period of time. Traditionally, there were a number of restrictions: a woman could only marry a Muslim, Christian or Jew, although men were advised to temporarily marry only chaste Muslim women.
The two main conditions of a temporary marriage were a specified period of time and a dowry. Today, this practice is used in Iran as a cover for women of easy virtue.
In many parts of the world, it is permissible to marry a person who is already dead, or to marry between two dead people. In China, after death, a man was buried next to a woman, so that he would not be alone in the afterlife.
The reasons for ghost marriages are diverse. According to one custom, a younger brother should marry after his older brother. If the older brother died, he was married to a ghost, so that the younger brother would not see the ghost of his vengeful brother after the wedding.
Ghost marriage is also practiced among the Nuer and Atut tribes in southern Sudan. If a man dies without an heir, then one of his brother's wives must marry his ghost. If she has children, they will be considered the heirs of the deceased brother.
In the late 19th century, John Humphrey Noyes created a utopian community in New York State, which became known as"Onaida". He believed that Christ is risen, the Kingdom of Heaven is rapidly approaching, and people are able to achieve perfection in this world. Referring to quotations from the Bible, John stated that every man in society should be married to every woman. Monogamy and jealousy were regarded as sin and idolatry.
Members of the community punished those who practiced monogamy. In order to reduce the birth rate and provide intimate pleasure for women, Noyes preached the practice of "male abstinence", or sexual intercourse without ejaculation. It was also meant to promote self-control. Every woman was free to accept or reject the claims of any man. Such a system existed for three decades.
In this South Indian practice, a little girl was married to a deity or temple (and often she was married even before birth). The word "devadasi" literally translates as "servant of God". They had to be attractive, hardworking, smart, and able to dance well. Their duties included singing and dancing in the morning and evening in honor of their god, as well as generating income for their temples through donations from the audience.
Devadasi were traditionally held in high esteem and had a higher status than other women in society. It was considered an honor to marry a god. However, soon the principles of this practice were perverted, and devadasi were used as women for the bed pleasures of aristocrats and priests.
One of the most significant arguments against the superiority of conservative traditional marriage is that many such marriages are immoral for modern society — for example, in a number of traditional heterosexual cultures, child marriage was considered the norm.
In medieval Europe, girls were usually married at the age of 12. This made sense due to the extremely short life expectancy at the time, but by today's standards, it's terrible. Although child marriage eventually disappeared in Europe, it is still practiced in many developing countries around the world.
In China, it is considered mandatory to marry and give birth to an heir. Homosexuality is treated much more negatively in this country than in many Western countries. One solution for many gay men is to enter into a formal marriage with a heterosexual woman.
A Chinese sexologist claims that 90 percent of gay men in China are married in such a marriage, called tongqi. The disadvantage of such marriages is that the partner often has no idea about the orientation of the husband before marriage and subsequently suffers from a sense of rejection and intimate dissatisfaction.
In the Baule tribe in Ivory Coast, it is believed that every person has the spirit of a spouse, with whom he was married in the spiritual world before he was born. They are called "blolo bian" ("otherworldly man") and"blolo bla"("otherworldly woman"). The cause of family discord can be considered jealousy on the part of the otherworldly half.
Same-sex marriage is often considered a recent innovation. In fact, various forms of same-sex marriage have existed throughout history. In the 1960s and 70s, some gay activists were even granted marriage licenses. You can also recall the same-sex relationships that were described in Babylonian, Greek and ancient Egyptian literature. In ancient Rome, the Emperor Nero married a eunuch.