Tonga Essay

Dowries are extremely important to consider when it comes to arranged marriages. A dowry is a gift that could be goods, money, or land that a bride’s family will give to the groom to marry the bride. Dowries could be used to bring two powerful families together by having their children marry, for example, royal arranged marriages. In the Biblical sense, a girl who is still a virgin is more of prize than one who is not. In a way dowries make the daughter or son feel as property as told by Sara Smolinsky, “to [my father] I was nothing but his last unmarried daughter to be bought and sold” (205). Mr. Smolinsky stated, “It’s not enough to take my Bessie without a dowry. You must pay me yet” (47). Mr. Smolinsky, being the stubborn man he is, decided when Berel Bernstein asked for Bessie’s hand in marriage without the need of a dowry, that Mr. Smolinsky should get a bride price as well. A bride price

Marriage at this time was a way of securing a happy livelihood and relative

A young woman would marry a man who was usually significantly older than she was. After marriage, women were stuck in a home where the male was the head of the household and made all of the decisions.11 Marital choice did not exist; at least not for women. Woman were forced to marry men that they barely knew, thus even the most intimate details of their lives were decided not by them, but by others. Love was usually not a factor in the marriage equation. Wife-beating was also allowed and men sometimes imprisoned, starved, and humiliated their wives.12

This left women with a clear disadvantage. The system worked well in happy marriages, but if a situation such as a husband's death, desertion from his family, or divorce were to arise, it was usually the woman who suffered as a result. According to the Code, a contract was necessary for marriage. Also, when a man and woman were getting married, the most important item to be negotiated was the bride price. This, again, shows that men were superior to women when it came to the ownership of property. Regardless of the amount of this bride price, it was managed by the husband and it was used to support the wife and her children: "If a woman who lived in a man's house made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document therefore; if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it" (Pritchard 155). The bride's father had the right to change his mind about the marriage, in which case he would have been required to refund the purchase price in full showing again how women were nothing more than a piece of property: "If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law and pay the price; if then the father of the girl say "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give back all that he brought with him" (Pritchard 156). Another horrific example of how women were regarded as nothing more than mere possessions was that if a wife died before giving birth to

Women had great social pressure on them to marry. Young girls were often married by the age of 13 or 14 . It was socially unacceptable if women were not married by the age of 25 . Marriage was mostly for economic benefits, not romantic situations. A wedding, rather than a religious ceremony, was a civil contract that set the responsibilities and duties of husband and wife . Once married, they legally became one with their husbands. Married women had no control of their earnings, inheritance, property, and also could not appear in court as a witness nor vote . Their husbands, therefore, were responsible for all aspects of their wife including discipline .

The male had to show the woman’s father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband’s family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers

Marriage practices vary across cultures. Every culture has its own way of conducting marriage according to their traditions and customs. Most cultures share common customs and practices, while some cultures have unique practices. Marriage refers to a social union agreed upon by the couples to unit as spouses. The union of couples implies sexual relations, permanence in union, and procreation. This research paper focuses on comparing marriage practices in American and Indian culture. There is significant difference between the two cultures in marriage practices.

• Fathers gave sons acreage so they could get married and daughters had to have a dowry to get married. The better the land or dowry the better the social standing in the community.

This report is based on the book Thunder Rides a Black Horse written by Claire R. Farrer. This book is written in context of an indian group called the Mescalero Apache Indians. Their reservation and ceremonial grounds are based in the south-central part of New Mexico. The author is very familiar with this tribe as she claims to be like family with some of the members. She writes this book based on her visit to join in on one of their big traditions. It is called the puberty ceremonials. These ceremonies are where the young girls of the tribe are traditionally accepted as women into their society. The Mescalero Apache Indians still

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

After marriage, women were to take the husband's ancestors as hers. Thus, a marriage had a purpose of continuing the ancestral line and raising the status of the family.

What was expected of the female children was vastly different than what was expected of the adults. Unlike most cultures where the boys attend school and the girls learn housework, it is believed that neither attended school. Instead, boy’s learned men’s work and girls did work alongside the females in their life. They learned to cook, garden, and take care of domestic animals and make clothing. By the time the females are ready to marry at the expected ages,

was delayed since they couldn’t afford it. Women married young to ensure their heirs around the age of 16 to 20. For women, marriage was the clearest mark for social hood. In many marriages, it involved the women, her parents, kin, and community (Wiesner 72.) According to Joan Kelly, a woman would have a gift, such as money or farm animals, that went to her future husband. On a woman’s wedding day, her father would parade her through her new home. If a woman were an orphan, she could choose her own husband. According to Merry Wiesner, there wasn’t much concern for romantic love. Instead, it was more about economic security, social prestige, and the hope

By endorsing this policy and disapproving the production of weapons of mass destruction, Australia can initiate the progress to removing these potential threats to secure Australia nationally and the Asia Pacific region as well (Hawkins & Kimber 2016). Thus, Australia’s key national interests include regional and global security to maintain and strengthen the peaceful relationships internationally.

Samoan culture plays a large part in the lives of those with Samoan heritage. Samoan culture is kept strong in a Samoan house hold by keeping the culture alive. This is done by keeping family unity, the art of traditional tattooing, and eating traditional foods and cooking traditional ways.