essay

MARRIAGE PRACTICES 1

Marriage Practices used in Two Different Cultures

By: Marnicia Moody

1/17/2015

ANT101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Instructor: Heman Sweet

MARRIAGE PRACTICES 2

Marriage Practices used in Two Different Cultures

Marriage practices have been around for decades. The way each culture celebrates their

new found love is different in every culture. The two cultures I am going to focus on are Oraibi

and Hindu. The way each of these cultures share their new life is not only beautiful but it is very

different. In this essay I will discuss how the two cultures celebrate and prepare to wed.

The Oraibi tribe resides in the villages of Tusayan which is located in Arizona. The

Hindu tribe resides in places like India and Nepal. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the

world. The marriage ceremony of the Oraibi tribe is both complicated and long-lasting. The

marriage ceremony of the Hindu tribe is long and spiritual.

The Oraibi tribe also goes by the name of Hopi Indians of Arizona. Among the Hopi

Indians marriage by purchase does not exist. (H.R. Voth, 1990) They believe that you should be

able to marry whoever you want. They actually keep their relationship from the public until they

are ready to marry. Then the man asks the father for her hand in marriage. In some cases the

mother and the father may have some input in the two being married but it is less likely to

happen. When two people marry because they want to it is believed that the marriage will last

longer.

The Hindu culture uses a different approach to marriage. In a Bengali Hindu marriage

negotiations for marriage begin either directly or indirectly. They start of by making matches

between the boy and the girl depending on how powerful their families are. In all these cases out

of pocket fees are to be paid; and, in the event of a successful negotiation, a certain fee must be

paid. (D.N. Mitra, 1946). The next step is a party where the girls and the boy’s relatives go to

each other’s parties to select two or more boys or girls to wed.

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The final selection of both parties will depend on what the men of the family have to say.

In the Oraibi tribe they even have a ritual for the big wedding day. They start by making

sure the wedding is set for autumn or winter because during summer and spring they are usually

working in the fields. As soon as the mother or aunt knows about a woman in their family getting

married they start by doing her hair in a hitherto which is worn between two coils and ties a knot

in the loosened hair of each side. Then either later in the day or early morning the bride to be and

her mother take a meal made from white corn to the future husband.

When the bride gets to the future husbands house she immediately starts working on

making white corn meal and the mother returns home. The men go about their usual day of work.

When it gets later in the day the bride stops grinding corn and begins folding blankets with the

husbands family. They do not talk that much to the bride during the next few days. The next day

the bride continues to grind more corn until it is white. On the third day of grinding the corn then

becomes a blueish color. And then by the fourth day all the corn is given to the mother in law

and returned to their owners by the mother of the bride. The fourth day is also known as wedding

day proper.

Most of the time that the bride is at her grooms house, she is getting prepared to be

wedded. The whole family is participating the entire time, especially the aunts. They are

preparing the dress and the wedding ceremony with vessels of water and mohu. Mohu is foaming

suds of pounded roots of yucca to which warm water is added. A farewell ceremony is always

performed before they make the bride and groom official. The ceremony is called Niman-

Katcina.

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The Hindu culture make their girls get dressed in their best clothes and jewelry, which is

normally borrowed, to be selected to wed. The girls are then taught to walk slowly and bow their

heads in front of the boys or they will be disqualified from being selected as a bride. The girls are

then asked a series of questions related to their culture to see who has the best knowledge. In the

Hindu culture you basically have to audition to become a bride. Anything from singing to

playing an instrument makes you stand out from the other girls.

The final selection of a boy and a girl does not necessarily end in their marriage. (D.N.

Mitra, 1946). Dowries and presents play the next big role in the selection. The girl is usually

presented with cash, houses, jewelry, and many other expensive items. This is usually because of

the list the parents make of the things they need. So it is kind of like they are trading their

daughter for things they cannot normally purchase. The boy always receives a watch no matter

how many watches he may have. The boy and girl in the Hindu culture do not have a say so in

whom they wed. They also do not know who they are marrying. They must marry whoever their

parents chose and learn to adapt to one another.

From reading both cultures and learning their traditions of getting married I have learned

the two cultures only have one thing in common and that is family. The Oraibi and Hindu

cultures both have very strong ties to their families. The way they view marriage is totally

different though. The Hindu culture is more of a negotiation between two families that decide

their children’s fate. The Oraibi culture gives their men and women the freedom to choose who

they want to marry. They even have time to get to know one another before they make wedding

announcements.

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References

H. R. Voth American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Apr.

- Jun., 1900), pp. 238-246

Pandit Vishwanath The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and

Ireland Vol. 47 (Jan. - Jun., 1917), pp. 31-36

D. N. Mitra American Journal of Sociology Vol. 52, No. 3 (Nov., 1946), pp. 255-258