Today marks a historic victory in the United States! Same sex marriage has been a topic of controversy for decades and homosexuality has been scandalized until recently and people may never see the same on the subject; but today is a WIN!!
The history of marriage is not one that is particularly pure or saintly. No, marriage was actually established as a way for families to forge contracts by marrying their children off. The first marriages were done without the church and without the state. The Catholic Church got involved around the 1215 and made it a law that couples had to post a notice or announcement of their upcoming nuptials with the parish. It eliminated it only three decades ago in 1980. Here are what I think are the weirdest of traditions about marriage.
>Traditionally, bridesmaids would be dressed in similar bride-like gowns to confuse rival suitors, evil spirits, and robbers.
>Hammurabi’s Code (ca. 1790 B.C.), an ancient Babylonian law code, contains some of the oldest known and recorded marriage laws. These early laws defined marriage as a contract that paradoxically served to protect women and restrict them. According to the Code, a man could divorce his wife if she could not bear children or of she was a “gadabout” who humiliated her husband in public and neglected her house. Additionally, she could be “pitched” in a river if she committed adultery.
>In ancient Greece, Solon (638-538 B.C.) once contemplated making marriage compulsory, and in Athens under Pericles (495-429 B.C.), bachelors were excluded from certain public positions. In Sparta, single and childless men were treated with scorn. In ancient Rome, Augustus (63 B.C.-A.D. 14) passed drastic laws compelling people to marry and penalized those who remained single.
>Throughout most of history, marriage was not necessarily based on mutual love, but an institution devoted to acquiring in-laws and property and to provide the family additional labor forces (by having children).
>A marriage ceremony typically ends with a kiss because in ancient Rome, a kiss was a legal bond that sealed contracts, and marriage was seen as a contract.
>The first recorded mention of same-sex marriage occurs in Ancient Rome and seems to have occurred without too much debate until Christianity became the official religion. In 1989, Denmark was the first post-Christianity nation to legally recognize same-sex marriage.
So folks, there you have it….Marriage!! Ain’t love grand!!
Wanderlust Katie 