Essay about Sikh Marriage

Arranged Marriages have been around since time can remember. An arranged marriage is a marital union between a man and a woman who were selected to be wedded together by a third party. Historically, arrange marriages were the main way to marry. In certain parts of the world, it is still the primary approach. There are two types of arrange marriages. The first is a traditional marriage where the children can, with strong objections, refuse to marry their soon to be spouse. In a forced marriage, the children have no say in the matter. Bread Givers shows an excellent representation of the pressures on children from their parents to be married against their will.

It is often said that marriages are made in Heaven, and therefore, a suitable partner is very much of a necessity so as to lead a very happy and satisfied life. We often witness two types of Marriages, mainly, love marriages and arranged marriages. In love marriage, two adults decide to involve themselves in the holy bond of matrimony and in the other the families of the groom and the bride, or the third parties, a very active role in determining the match. In earlier days arranged marriages were the norm; this research provides a comparative analysis of the different practices and beliefs in marriage in the American and Nigerian contexts.

I will now elaborate more on the different Indian traditions related to an Indian Hindu wedding.

For marriages, the men get to choose the woman, but the woman must approve of the wedding or the men must find another woman. The men then shows to the woman’s father his skill, whether archer or warrior. If the father approves, the man and woman exchange gifts and horses and are pronounced married. Then the married couple make a tipi of their own near or with the husband’s family.

but, It is not the most preferred: Monogamy is the ideal and preferred form of marriage in only 81 cultures out of a sample 400cultures.

The Hindu marriage usually takes in the bride’s hometown or city. The venue is generally a town or community hall, or a hotel, depending on the budget of the bride’s family. There are often blessings in the temple before or after the service.

First of all, every culture has different customs implemented on its community. This is especially evident in “Matrimony with a Proper Stranger”, which details the circumstances of arranged marriage and its application in Indian life.

Marriage is an essential contract between a husband and a wife. In the past, marriages were arranged between relatives and the parents of the couple were the main leads in discussing the ceremony.

The topic I have chosen for researching from different sources is Sikhism. In this paper I will explore the religious we well as the cultural beliefs of people following Sikhism.

This joint family, like any social organization, must face problems such as acceptable division of work, relationships and specific family roles. These familial relationships are managed on the basis of a secular hierarchical principle. In fact, all Indians owe respect and obedience to the head of the family, who usually is the father or the oldest man of the family community. In The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder by Nanda and Gregg, it is explained that, “females [are] placed under the perpetual guardianship of first their fathers and elder brothers, then their husbands.” (Nanda & Gregg 22) Thus, all the spending decisions, studies and profession, or marriage, are exclusively the responsibility of the father after the possible discussions with the other men of the family. Age and sex are the basic principles of this hierarchical system. The eldest sons enjoy greater unchallenged authority than their cadets. Of course men have more authority than women, but older married women have an important role within the family. In fact, the authority of a woman depends on the rank of her husband inside the group. Traditionally, the wife of the patriarch rules over domestic affairs and has considerable power over the other women in the community, especially her daughters- in-law.

The family unit is the most important thing in this society. It is generally very closed, private and closely—knit. It is still quite common for cousins to marry cousins. Each member of the extended family help the others and often finances is shared in order to start business or help those who are in difficulties. In this society males are seen as more important. Than female, older people are greatly respected for their wisdom and mother still dominates the household, the bond between mother and son is particularly strong. Marriage is very important in this society. The bride and bridegroom will have been either chosen or approved of by the parents of both. The bridegroom has to pay a bridal pryce for his bride and marrying into a good family

If they were to meet each other without the parent’s permission, it is considered as bad manner and bad upbringing. In India, the average age to marry is 24 years old for the males and 22 to 23 years old for the females. Indian weddings are usually the longest wedding, which are held in the night time in a huge wedding hall, that includes many different rituals which are performed in front of the God and the couple promise’s each other that they will be together in a sad or a happy moment, no matter what will be the results. Even though wedding has the same meaning in every culture, the way of celebration and ceremony is different. According to iloveindia.com, the ceremony in India is about the priest, groom, bride, and bride’s parents sit beneath a mandap, and a canopy. The wedding ceremony starts off with the Kanya Daan, in which the bride’s parents give away the bride’s hand to the groom with all her responsibility. Then the couple holds hands together and start circling around a small, enclosed fire in a ritual called the mangal phera for seven times by taking a seven oaths together to spend a rest of the life to live as a one soul. The seven steps around the enclosed fire, is the vow to support each other and live happily together. Finally, the groom will apply a red powder to the center of the bride’s forehead and tie a black beaded necklace around her neck, symbolizing

marriages that occur in India and the United States have several dramatic differences. Marriages in India are based solely on parental decisions, whereas in the United States a marriage is based on individualism. Who, why and how the spouse is chosen, is very different in both countries. Most Americans date to discover who their future spouse is going to be, and they know the person very well before marriage. In India, dating is not something that occurs. Most individuals in India do not have any interaction with the bride or groom prior to their wedding day, therefore, they do not personally know who they are marrying (Nanda 624). Though these differences exist, pros and cons reflect on each of them.

Marriage is a significant social event in contemporary society. It is a means of building new bonds between two individuals and their subsequent families. The foundations of memorable weddings are built on those that bring often-distant family and friends together for the occasion, while dressed in their most sophisticated attire, surrounded by elegant flowers, a night of dancing, captured through the lens of an exceptional photographer. Although Hinduism and Islam are two extremely distinctive religions, their matrimonial customs do share some comparable elements, like most other cultural wedding ceremonies. In both religions, they are devotedly obedient concerning religious and cultural practices in their marital ceremonies.

Tamils have a tradition of cross-cousin marriages, which they believe strengthening the family. The belief of caste also tends to strengthen family ideology. Marriage is arranged by the families of the couple. Tamil