Since childhood, we have been daydreaming and wondering what a beautiful gift marriage is? Many of the time, we have heard from our parents, grandparents, aunt-uncle that marriage completes a person, and the matches are made-in-heaven.
Marriage connects two beautiful souls; marriage fills your life with cherishable moments. It is a pure bond of love, and its roots are based on trust and understanding.
As per the belief of golden days – marriages unite two families. They are considered, as you can say, a picture-perfect traditional marriage. It will be all the family elders’ responsibility to decide to whom their kids will get married; a few times, relationships need to be made purposely.
What is traditional marriage?
Traditional marriages mean that spouses are already locked into their predefined roles, giving no opportunity to dazzle or do something else of their own choice.
This will explain to you better – the husband will be the one who goes out, works hard, and earns money for his family, while the wife stays at home and takes care of the kids. The husband would be considered the boss and wife as the house’s caretaker, doing household chores. Both husband and wife roles are fixed, and nobody is supposed to switch or alter any of their work.
Also, in traditional marriages, the husband holds the command over things. His wife should always obey his words. Today, even so, many couples are living in a traditional marriage bond and can hardly escape it.
Different Types of Marriages
But, nowadays, the meaning of marriage has changed. Instead of marrying out of necessity, people are now marrying for love. There are a lot of weddings out there that many people would consider being non-traditional.
1. Civil Marriage And Religious Marriage:
For ages, there were only two types of marriages which too performed at present times: civil marriage or religious marriage. A religious marriage, a marriage that is performed at a religious place, be it a temple or church – with obeying all the religious rules.
A civil marriage, a marriage that is observed, recorded, and certified by a government official. Such marriages are commemorated by a religious body and recognized by the state. Any marriage can also combine these two types of marriages.
2. Interfaith Marriage:
Interfaith marriage is sometimes called Mixed marriage – where two individuals of different religions or backgrounds can tie knots and spend happily married life gracefully.
Previously, society didn’t allow anyone to get married outside of their religion. But as the generation passes by, people have become more diverse. And now, this is the time where the trend of interfaith marriages is popping.
3. Monogamous Marriage:
When two people get married, they promise each other not to get too involved (physically) with any other person for an entire lifetime – this is what a monogamous marriage is, staying with one spouse.
The root of monogamous marriage is to be loyal and faithful to your partner. While marriage is a big commitment, and monogamy is an enormous part of that commitment to your spouse.
4. Polygamous Marriage:
Polygamous marriage is just the opposite of monogamous marriage. In a polygamous marriage, a married person can have more than one spouse and may get involved sexually with everyone.
The husband and wife polygamy is defined by specific terms, i.e., Polygyny and Polyandry, simultaneously.
When a married man gets hitched over one woman, it is referred to as Polygyny marriage. In polygyny marriage, it refers to women as sister wives. These women learn how to live together even though they are not sisters by blood.
While in Polyandry marriages, women may get married to more than one man. You might not hear about this, as it sounds weird, but it is practiced in some parts of the world.
In some countries, polygamous marriages are against their laws, while in other parts of the world, it is considered very healthy.
5. Same-Sex Marriage:
Even today, many countries have strict rules for same-sex marriages; these are the countries that don’t believe in such union and view it as a sin. While other countries have amended their laws and respectfully celebrate same-sex marriages.
6. Convenience Marriage:
Such marriages to be performed only to save their political pride or statements in society are referred to as convenience marriage. These types of marriages don’t build on the root of love.
Since ancient times, royal families have been getting connected with other royal houses just for political alliances, and the string continues.
7. Interracial marriage:
Interracial marriage is also called a Mixed marriage, and in such marriages, people are of distinct races get married.
For decades, numerous laws have prohibited performing mixed marriages or interracial marriage. Or if somehow two individuals of different races get married, they get to face harsh comments from family, friends, or even strangers because they can’t accept such relationships.
In interracial marriage, couples should obey and learn from each other through tradition and culture.
8. Common-law Marriage:
In common-law marriage, couples live together, as they are husband and wife, without formally going through a formal ceremony or getting a marriage license.
In such marriages, couples sign an agreement to present, they are married, maybe rent an apartment or get loans.
9. Love Marriage:
Love marriages are acceptable in society, and couples who tie knots with love, tend to be happier and live a cherished life. The root of Love Marriages is pure and gentle.
10. Arranged Marriage:
Arranged Marriages happen in those cases when the person, not able to find their life partner. At that time, families and relatives get involved and start searching for a suitable match for their kids.
Arranged marriage is a marriage that is planned between the families of the bride and groom. In such marriages, the bride and groom barely know each other, and they do not really choose who they get to marry. Often, a priest is also asked to find the perfect bride/groom for the required match.
Many times, arranged marriages are done to benefit the families involved for many reasons. Moreover, in an arranged marriage, the bride and groom have equal rights, whether to take things forward or not.Â
11. Open Marriage:
In such marriages, couples prefer to stay together while dating other people as well. An open marriage demands couples to be clear with their thoughts, respectful to each other’s decisions, and communicate wisely. Though, such marriages don’t have good endings and often lead to divorce.
Well, these are a few of the different types of marriages that exist all around the world. Every marriage is unconventional, and no two stories are quite the same.
