KEY WEST LOU / MARRIAGE

Marriage is and has been an evolving state.

Lets begin with the stone age. Couples existed, but not as we know them today. Males and females got together for sex, child sharing and life’s daily tasks. Respect was lacking. The male/husband dominant. The female/wife a slave of sorts.

Traditional marriage as known today difficult to pinpoint. Non-existent.

Marriage became a mix. All numbers and kinds as time moved on.

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Men have taken multiple wives in various cultures. China and Africa the most common. American Mormons in the 19th century.

Polygamy is still common across much of the Muslim world.

The idea of marriage between one man and one woman is relatively recent. Two centuries ago, monogamous households were a very tiny portion of the world population. Existing in Western Europe and little settlements in North America.

The first recorded evidence of marriage contracts and ceremonies dates back some 4,000 years ago t0 2350 B.C. in Mesopotamia. Marriage at that time was primarily among the poor class. Its purpose to preserve power, forge alliances, acquire land and produce legitimate heirs. Marriage as described came into being as society moved from a hunter to agrarian one. Women had little say who they married and how they were treated once married.

Religion/the Church is involved today. It was not at the beginning, however.

In ancient Rome, marriage was a civil affair governed by imperial law. When the Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century, Catholic Church courts took over and elevated marriage to a holy union. As the Church’s power grew through the Middle ages, so did its influence over marriage. The Catholic Church’s Council of Trent which existed from 1545 to 1563 elevated marriage to a Sacrament, decreed weddings be performed in public, by priests, and before witnesses.

Love was not part of the relationship. Love and marriage were widely regarded as incompatible. Public kissing between spouses was condemned by Plutarch as early as 200 B.C. who described it as “disgraceful.” In the 12th and 13th centuries, Europeans viewed extramarital affairs as the highest form of romance, not marriage. In the 18th century, the French philosopher Montesquiece wrote that any man who was in love with his wife was probably too daft to be loved by another woman.

Romance entered the picture in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enlightenment thinkers determined life was about the pursuit of happiness.

The Industrial Revolution contributed. It enabled middle class young men to select a spouse, pay for a wedding, with regard to parental approval of no consequence. Love blossomed!

Marriage changed in the 20th century. Women grew from subordinated objects to the equal of their husbands. They were no longer regarded as property. If unhappy, couples could divorce. Today divorce ends approximately 50 percent of U.S. marriages.

Whereas men had been “playboys” for centuries and cheated, women now joined the club as “playgirls.” By the end of the 20th century marriage stability had become endangered.

Gay marriage became acceptable further undermining traditional marriage.

What’s next? Who knows. Change is a gradual constant where marriage is concerned.

Enjoy your day!

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