In the late-19th century, citizens of the self-governing territory of what is present-day  Utah  were forced by the United States federal government to abandon the practice of  polygamy  through the vigorous enforcement of several  Acts of Congress , and eventually complied.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  formally abolished the practice in 1890, in a document labeled ' The Manifesto ' (see  Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century ). [ 126 ]  Among  American Muslims , a small minority of around 50,000 to 100,000 people are estimated to live in families with a husband maintaining an illegal polygamous relationship. [ 125 ]


Several countries such as India and Sri Lanka, [ 127 ]  permit only their Islamic citizens to practice polygamy. Some Indians have converted to  Islam  in order to bypass such legal restrictions. [ 128 ]  Predominantly Christian nations usually do not allow  polygamous unions , with a handful of exceptions being the  Republic of the Congo , Uganda, and  Zambia .


When a marriage is performed and carried out by a government institution in accordance with the  marriage laws  of the jurisdiction, without religious content, it is a  civil marriage . Civil marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony in the eyes of the state. Some countries do not recognize locally performed religious marriage on its own, and require a separate civil marriage for official purposes. Conversely, civil marriage does not exist in some countries governed by a  religious legal system , such as  Saudi Arabia , where marriages contracted abroad might not be recognized if they were contracted contrary to Saudi interpretations of  Islamic religious law . In countries governed by a  mixed secular-religious legal system , such as  Lebanon  and  Israel , locally performed civil marriage does not exist within the country, which prevents interfaith and various other marriages that contradict religious laws from being entered into in the country; however, civil marriages performed abroad may be recognized by the state even if they conflict with religious laws.  For example, in the case of recognition of  marriage in Israel , this includes recognition of not only interfaith civil marriages performed abroad, but also overseas same-sex civil marriages.


In various jurisdictions, a civil marriage may take place as part of the religious marriage ceremony, although they are theoretically distinct. Some jurisdictions allow civil marriages in circumstances which are notably not allowed by particular religions, such as  same-sex marriages  or  civil unions . Churches may have less strict limits than the civil jurisdictions. [ citation needed ]  It is possible for two people to be recognized as married by a religious or other institution, but not by the state, and hence without the legal rights and obligations of marriage; or to have a civil marriage deemed invalid and sinful by a religion. Similarly, a couple may remain married in religious eyes after a civil divorce.


Most sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit legally recognized marriage to  opposite-sex  couples and a diminishing number of these permit  polygyny marriage ,  polyandry marriage ,  group marriage ,  coverture marriage ,  arranged marriages ,  forced marriages ,  child marriages ,  cousin marriages ,  sibling marriages ,  teenage marriages ,  avunculate marriages ,  incestuous marriages , and  bestiality marriages . In modern times, a growing number of countries, primarily developed democracies, have lifted bans on, and have established legal recognition for,  equal rights for women  and the marriages of  interethnic ,  interracial ,  interfaith ,  interdenominational ,  interclass ,  intercommunity ,  transnational , and  same-sex  couples as well as immigrant couples, couples with an immigrant spouse, and other minority couples. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of national laws against the practice.


A marriage is usually formalized at a wedding or marriage ceremony. The ceremony may be officiated either by a religious official, by a government official or by a state approved celebrant. In various European and Latin American countries, any religious ceremony must be held separately from the required civil ceremony. Some countries – such as  Belgium ,  Bulgaria ,  France , the  Netherlands ,  Romania  and  Turkey [ 129 ]  – require that a civil ceremony take place before any religious one. In some countries – notably the  United States ,  Canada , the  United Kingdom ,  Ireland ,  Norway , and  Spain  – both ceremonies can be held together; the officiant at the religious and civil ceremony also serving as agent of the state to perform the civil ceremony. To avoid any implication that the state is "recognizing" a religious marriage (which is prohibited in some countries) – the "civil" ceremony is said to be taking place at the same time as the religious ceremony. Often this involves simply signing a register during the religious ceremony. If the civil element of the religious ceremony is omitted, the marriage ceremony is not recognized as a marriage by government under the law.


Some countries, such as Australia, permit marriages to be held in private and at any location; others, including  England and Wales , require that the civil ceremony be conducted in a place open to the public and specially sanctioned by law for the purpose. In England, the place of marriage formerly had to be a church or  register office , but this was extended to any public venue with the necessary licence. An exception can be made in the case of marriage by special emergency license (UK: licence), which is normally granted only when one of the parties is terminally ill. Rules about where and when persons can marry vary from place to place. Some regulations require one of the parties to reside within the jurisdiction of the register office (formerly parish).


Each religious authority has rules for the manner in which marriages are to be conducted by their officials and members. Where religious marriages are recognised by the state, the officiator must also conform with the law of the jurisdiction.


In a small number of jurisdictions marriage relationships may be created by the operation of the law alone. [ 130 ]  Unlike the typical  ceremonial marriage  with legal contract, wedding ceremony, and other details, a  common-law marriage  may be called "marriage by habit and repute (cohabitation)." A de facto common-law marriage without a license or ceremony is legally binding in some jurisdictions but has no legal consequence in others. [ 130 ]


A  civil union , also referred to as a  civil partnership , is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with  Denmark  in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in several countries in order to provide  same-sex couples   rights , benefits, and  responsibilities  similar (in some countries, identical) to opposite-sex civil marriage. In some  jurisdictions , such as  Brazil ,  New Zealand ,  Uruguay ,  Ecuador ,  France  and the U.S. states of  Hawaii  and  Illinois , civil unions are also open to opposite-sex couples.


Sometimes people marry to take advantage of a certain situation, sometimes called a  marriage of convenience  or a sham marriage. In 2003, over 180,000 immigrants were admitted to the U.S. as spouses of  U.S. citizens ; [ 132 ]  more were admitted as fiancés of US citizens for the purpose of being married within 90 days. These marriages had a diverse range of motives, including  obtaining permanent residency , securing an inheritance that has a marriage clause, or to enroll in health insurance, among many others. While all marriages have a complex combination of conveniences motivating the parties to marry, a marriage of convenience is one that is devoid of normal reasons to marry. In certain countries like Singapore sham marriages are punishable criminal offences. [ 133 ]


People have proposed arguments against marriage for reasons that include political, philosophical and religious criticisms; concerns about the  divorce rate ; individual liberty and gender equality; questioning the necessity of having a personal relationship sanctioned by government or religious authorities; or the promotion of  celibacy  for religious or philosophical reasons. Research has found that unhappily married couples are at 3–25 times the risk of developing clinical depression. [ 134 ] [ 135 ] [ 136 ]


Historically, in most cultures, married women had very few rights of their own, being considered, along with the family's children, the property of the  husband ; as such, they could not own or inherit property, or represent themselves legally (see, for example,  coverture ). Since the late 19th century, in some (primarily  Western ) countries, marriage has undergone gradual legal changes, aimed at improving the rights of the wife. These changes included giving wives legal identities of their own, abolishing the right of husbands to physically discipline their wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing  divorce  laws, providing wives with  reproductive rights  of their own, and requiring a  wife 's consent when sexual relations occur. In the 21st century, there continue to be controversies regarding the legal status of married women, legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within marriage (especially sexual violence), traditional marriage customs such as  dowry  and  bride price , forced marriage,  marriageable age , and criminalization of consensual behaviors such as  premarital  and  extramarital sex .


Feminist theory  approaches opposite-sex marriage as an institution traditionally rooted in  patriarchy  that promotes male superiority and power over women. This  power dynamic  conceptualizes men as "the provider operating in the public sphere" and women as "the caregivers operating within the private sphere". [ 138 ]  "Theoretically, women ... [were] defined as the property of their husbands .... The adultery of a woman was always treated with more severity than that of a man." [ 139 ]  "[F]eminist demands for a wife's control over her own property were not met [in parts of Britain] until ... [laws were passed in the late 19th century]." [ 140 ]


Traditional heterosexual marriage imposed an obligation of the wife to be sexually available for her husband and an obligation of the husband to provide material/financial support for the wife. Numerous philosophers, feminists and other academic figures have commented on this throughout history, condemning the hypocrisy of legal and religious authorities in regard to sexual issues; pointing to the lack of choice of a woman in regard to controlling her own sexuality; and drawing parallels between marriage, an institution promoted as sacred, and  prostitution , widely condemned and vilified (though often tolerated as a " necessary evil ").  Mary Wollstonecraft , in the 18th century, described marriage as "legal prostitution". [ 141 ]   Bertrand Russell  in his book  Marriage and Morals  wrote that: "Marriage is for woman the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution." [ 142 ]   Angela Carter  in  Nights at the Circus  wrote: "What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many?" [ 143 ]


Some critics object to what they see as  propaganda  in relation to marriage – from the government, religious organizations, the media – which aggressively promote marriage as a solution for all social problems; such propaganda includes, for instance,  marriage promotion  in schools, where children, especially  girls , are bombarded with positive information about marriage, being presented only with the information prepared by authorities. [ 144 ] [ 145 ]


The performance of dominant gender roles by men and submissive gender roles by women influence the power dynamic of a heterosexual marriage. [ 146 ]  In some American households, women internalize gender role stereotypes and often assimilate into the role of "wife", "mother", and "caretaker" in  conformity  to societal norms and their male partner. Author  bell hooks  states "within the family structure, individuals learn to accept sexist oppression as 'natural' and are primed to support other forms of oppression, including heterosexist domination." [ 147 ]  "[T]he cultural, economic, political and legal supremacy of the husband" was "[t]raditional ... under English law". [ 148 ]  This patriarchal dynamic is contrasted with a conception of  egalitarian  or  peer marriage  in which power and labour are divided equally, and not according to  gender roles . [ 138 ]


In the US, studies have shown that, despite egalitarian ideals being common, less than half of respondents viewed their opposite-sex relationships as equal in power, with unequal relationships being more commonly dominated by the male partner. [ 149 ]  Studies also show that married couples find the highest level of satisfaction in egalitarian relationships and lowest levels of satisfaction in wife dominate relationships. [ 149 ]  In recent years, egalitarian or peer marriages have been receiving increasing focus and attention politically, economically and culturally in a number of countries, including the United States.


Different societies demonstrate variable tolerance of extramarital sex. The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample describes the occurrence of extramarital sex by gender in over 50 pre-industrial cultures. [ 151 ] [ 152 ]  The occurrence of extramarital sex by men is described as "universal" in 6 cultures, "moderate" in 29 cultures, "occasional" in 6 cultures, and "uncommon" in 10 cultures. The occurrence of extramarital sex by women is described as "universal" in 6 cultures, "moderate" in 23 cultures, "occasional" in 9 cultures, and "uncommon" in 15 cultures. Three studies using nationally representative samples in the United States found that between 10 and 15% of women and 20–25% of men engage in extramarital sex. [ 153 ] [ 154 ] [ 155 ]


Many of the world's major religions look with disfavor on  sexual relations  outside marriage. [ 156 ]  In some non- secular  Islamic countries, there are criminal penalties for  sexual intercourse before marriage . [ 157 ]  Sexual relations by a married person with someone other than his/her spouse is known as  adultery . Adultery is considered in many jurisdictions to be a crime and  grounds for divorce .


In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, [ 158 ]  Afghanistan, [ 159 ] [ 160 ]  Iran, [ 160 ]  Kuwait, [ 161 ]  Maldives, [ 162 ]  Morocco, [ 163 ]  Oman, [ 164 ]  Mauritania, [ 165 ]  United Arab Emirates, [ 166 ] [ 167 ]  Sudan, [ 168 ]  Yemen, [ 169 ]  any form of sexual activity outside marriage is illegal.


In some parts of the world, women and girls accused of having sexual relations outside marriage are at risk of becoming victims of  honor killings  committed by their families. [ 170 ] [ 171 ]  In 2011 several people were sentenced to death by  stoning  after being accused of adultery in Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali and Pakistan. [ 172 ] [ 173 ] [ 174 ] [ 175 ] [ 176 ] [ 177 ] [ 178 ] [ 179 ] [ 180 ]  Practices such as honor killings and stoning continue to be supported by mainstream politicians and other officials in some countries. In  Pakistan , after the 2008  Balochistan honour killings  in which five women were killed by tribesmen of the  Umrani Tribe  of  Balochistan , Pakistani Federal Minister for Postal Services  Israr Ullah Zehri  defended the practice. [ 181 ]


An issue that is a serious concern regarding marriage and which has been the object of international scrutiny is that of  sexual violence within marriage . Throughout much of the history, in most cultures, sex in marriage was considered a 'right', that could be taken by force (often by a man from a woman), if 'denied'. As the concept of  human rights  started to develop in the 20th century, and with the arrival of  second-wave feminism , such views, and laws, have become less widely held. [ 182 ]


The legal and social concept of marital rape has developed in most industrialized countries in the mid- to late 20th century; in many other parts of the world it is not recognized as a form of abuse, socially or legally. Several countries in  Eastern Europe  and  Scandinavia  made marital rape illegal before 1970, and other countries in  Western Europe  and the English-speaking  Western world  outlawed it in the 1980s and 1990s. In  England and Wales , marital rape was made illegal in 1991. Although marital rape is being increasingly criminalized in  developing countries  too, cultural, religious, and traditional ideologies about "conjugal rights" remain very strong in many parts of the world; and even where countries may have adequate laws against rape in marriage, these laws may rarely be enforced. [ 183 ]


Apart from the issue of rape committed against one's spouse, marriage is, in many parts of the world, closely connected with other forms of sexual violence: in some places, like  Morocco , unmarried girls and women who are raped are often forced by their families to marry their rapist. Because being the victim of rape and losing  virginity  carry extreme social stigma, and the victims are deemed to have their "reputation" tarnished, a marriage with the rapist is arranged. This is claimed to be in the advantage of both the victim – who does not remain unmarried and does not lose social status – and of the rapist, who avoids punishment. In 2012, after a Moroccan 16-year-old girl committed  suicide  after having been forced by her family to marry her rapist and enduring further abuse by the rapist after they married, there have been protests from activists against this practice which is common in Morocco. [ 184 ]


In some societies, the very high social and religious importance of marital fidelity, especially female fidelity, has as result the criminalization of adultery, often with harsh penalties such as  stoning  or  flogging ; as well as leniency towards punishment of violence related to infidelity (such as  honor killings ). [ 185 ]  In the 21st century, criminal laws against adultery have become controversial with international organizations calling for their abolition. [ 186 ] [ 187 ]  Opponents of adultery laws argue that these laws are a major contributor to discrimination and violence against women, as they are enforced selectively mostly against women; that they prevent women from reporting  sexual violence ; and that they maintain social norms which justify violent crimes committed against women by husbands, families and communities. A Joint Statement by the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice states that "Adultery as a criminal offence violates women's human rights". [ 187 ]  Some human rights organizations argue that the criminalization of adultery also violates internationally recognized protections for private life, as it represents an arbitrary interference with an individual's privacy, which is not permitted under international law. [ 188 ]


The laws surrounding heterosexual marriage in many countries have come under international scrutiny because they contradict international standards of  human rights ; institutionalize  violence against women ,  child marriage  and  forced marriage ; require the permission of a husband for his wife to work in a paid job, sign legal documents, file criminal charges against someone, sue in civil court etc.; sanction the use by husbands of violence to "discipline" their wives; and discriminate against women in divorce. [ 189 ] [ 190 ] [ 191 ]


Such things were legal even in many Western countries until recently: for instance, in  France , married women obtained the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965, [ 192 ] [ 193 ] [ 194 ]  and in  West Germany  women obtained this right in 1977 (by comparison women in  East Germany  had many more rights). [ 195 ] [ 196 ]  In  Spain , during Franco's era, a married woman needed her husband's consent, referred to as the  permiso marital , for almost all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property, and even traveling away from home; the  permiso marital  was abolished in 1975. [ 197 ]


An absolute submission of a wife to her husband is accepted as natural in many parts of the world, for instance surveys by UNICEF have shown that the percentage of women aged 15–49 who think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances is as high as 90% in Afghanistan and Jordan, 87% in Mali, 86% in Guinea and Timor-Leste, 81% in Laos, 80% in Central African Republic. [ 198 ]  Detailed results from Afghanistan show that 78% of women agree with a beating if the wife "goes out without telling him [the husband]" and 76% agree "if she argues with him". [ 199 ]


Throughout history, and still today in many countries, laws have provided for  extenuating circumstances , partial or complete defenses, for men who killed their wives due to adultery, with such acts often being seen as  crimes of passion  and being covered by legal defenses such as  provocation  or defense of  family honor . [ 200 ]


While international law and conventions recognize the need for consent for entering a marriage – namely that people cannot be forced to get married against their will – the right to obtain a divorce is not recognized; therefore holding a person in a marriage against their will (if such person has consented to entering in it) is not considered a violation of human rights, with the issue of divorce being left at the appreciation of individual states. [ 201 ]


In the EU, the last country to allow divorce was  Malta ,  in 2011 . Around the world, the only countries to forbid divorce are  Philippines  and  Vatican City , [ 202 ]  although in practice in many countries which use a  fault-based divorce  system obtaining a divorce is very difficult. The ability to divorce, in law and practice, has been and continues to be a controversial issue in many countries, and public discourse involves different ideologies such as feminism,  social conservatism , religious interpretations. [ 203 ]


In recent years, the customs of  dowry  and  bride price  have received international criticism for inciting conflicts between families and clans; contributing to  violence against women ; promoting materialism; increasing property crimes (where men steal goods such as cattle in order to be able to pay the bride price); and making it difficult for poor people to marry. African women's rights campaigners advocate the abolishing of bride price, which they argue is based on the idea that women are a form of property which can be bought. [ 204 ]  Bride price has also been criticized for contributing to  child trafficking  as impoverished parents sell their young daughters to rich older men. [ 205 ]  A senior Papua New Guinea police officer has called for the abolishing of bride price arguing that it is one of the main reasons for the mistreatment of women in that country. [ 206 ]  The opposite practice of dowry has been linked to a high level of violence (see  Dowry death ) and to crimes such as  extortion . [ 207 ]


Historically, and still in many countries, children born outside marriage suffered severe social stigma and discrimination. In England and Wales, such children were known as  bastards and whoresons .


There are significant differences between world regions in regard to the social and legal position of non-marital births, ranging from being fully accepted and uncontroversial to being severely stigmatized and discriminated. [ 209 ] [ 210 ]


The 1975 European Convention on the Legal Status of Children Born out of Wedlock protects the rights of children born to unmarried parents. [ 211 ]  The convention states, among others, that: "The father and mother of a child born out of wedlock shall have the same obligation to maintain the child as if it were born in wedlock" and that "A child born out of wedlock shall have the same right of succession in the estate of its father and its mother and of a member of its father's or mother's family, as if it had been born in wedlock." [ 212 ]


While in most Western countries legal inequalities between children born inside and outside marriage have largely been abolished, this is not the case in some parts of the world.


The legal status of an unmarried father differs greatly from country to country. Without voluntary formal recognition of the child by the father, in most cases there is a need of due process of law in order to establish  paternity . In some countries however, unmarried cohabitation of a couple for a specific period of time does create a presumption of paternity similar to that of formal marriage. This is the case in Australia. [ 213 ]  Under what circumstances can a paternity action be initiated, the rights and responsibilities of a father once paternity has been established (whether he can obtain parental responsibility and whether he can be forced to  support the child ) as well as the legal position of a father who voluntarily acknowledges the child, vary widely by jurisdiction. A special situation arises when a married woman has a child by a man other than her husband. Some countries, such as  Israel , refuse to accept a legal challenge of paternity in such a circumstance, in order to avoid the stigmatization of the child (see  Mamzer , a concept under  Jewish law ). In 2010, the  European Court of Human Rights  ruled in favor of a German man who had fathered twins with a married woman, granting him right of contact with the twins, despite the fact that the mother and her husband had forbidden him to see the children. [ 214 ]


The steps that an unmarried father must take in order to obtain rights to his child vary by country. In some countries (such as the UK – since 2003 in England and Wales, 2006 in Scotland, and 2002 in Northern Ireland) it is sufficient for the father to be listed on the birth certificate for him to have parental rights; [ 215 ]  in other countries, such as Ireland, simply being listed on the birth certificate does not offer any rights, additional legal steps must be taken (if the mother agrees, the parents can both sign a "statutory declaration", but if the mother does not agree, the father has to apply to court). [ 216 ]


Children born outside marriage have become more common, and in some countries, the majority. Recent data from  Latin America  showed figures for non-marital childbearing to be 74% for  Colombia , 69% for  Peru , 68% for  Chile , 66% for  Brazil , 58% for  Argentina , 55% for  Mexico . [ 217 ] [ 218 ]  In 2012, in the  European Union , 40% of births were outside marriage, [ 219 ]  and in the United States, in 2013, the figure was similar, at 41%. [ 220 ]  In the  United Kingdom  48% of births were to unmarried women in 2012; in  Ireland  the figure was 35%. [ 219 ]


During the first half of the 20th century, unmarried women in some Western countries were coerced by authorities to give their children up for  adoption . This was especially the case in Australia, through the  forced adoptions in Australia , with most of these adoptions taking place between the 1950s and the 1970s. In 2013,  Julia Gillard , then Prime Minister of Australia, offered a national apology to those affected by the forced adoptions. [ 221 ] [ 222 ]


Some married couples  choose not to have children . Others are unable to have children because of  infertility  or other factors preventing  conception  or the bearing of children. In some cultures, marriage imposes an  obligation  on women to bear children. In northern  Ghana , for example, payment of  bridewealth  signifies a woman's requirement to bear children, and women using birth control face substantial threats of physical abuse and reprisals. [ 223 ]


Religions develop in specific geographic and social milieux. [ 224 ]  Religious attitudes and practices relating to marriage vary, but have many similarities. [ 225 ]


The  Baháʼí Faith  encourages marriage and views it as a mutually strengthening bond. A  Baháʼí marriage  is contingent on the consent of all living parents. [ 226 ]


Modern Christianity bases its views on marriage upon the teachings of  Jesus  and the  Paul the Apostle . [ 227 ]  Many of the largest  Christian  denominations regard marriage as a  sacrament , sacred institution, or  covenant . [ 228 ]


The first known decrees on marriage were during the  Roman Catholic   Council of Trent  (twenty-fourth session of 1563), decrees that made the validity of marriage dependent on the wedding occurring in the presence of a priest and two witnesses. [ 229 ] [ 230 ]  The absence of a requirement of parental consent ended a debate that proceeded from the 12th century. [ 230 ] [ 231 ]  In the case of a civil  divorce , the innocent spouse had and has no right to marry again until the death of the other spouse terminates the still valid marriage, even if the other spouse was guilty of adultery. [ 230 ]


The Christian Church performed marriages in the  narthex  of the church prior to the 16th century, when the emphasis was on the marital contract and betrothal. Subsequently, the ceremony moved inside the  sacristy  of the church. [ 229 ] [ 232 ]


Catholics ,  Eastern Orthodox , as well as many  Anglicans  and  Methodists , consider marriage termed  holy matrimony  to be an expression of  divine grace , [ 233 ]  termed a  sacrament  and  mystery  in the first two Christian traditions. In  Western ritual , the ministers of the sacrament are the spouses themselves, with a  bishop ,  priest , or  deacon  merely witnessing the union on behalf of the Church and blessing it. In  Eastern ritual churches , the bishop or priest functions as the actual minister of the Sacred Mystery; Eastern Orthodox deacons may not perform marriages. Western Christians commonly refer to marriage as a  vocation , while Eastern Christians consider it an  ordination  and a  martyrdom , though the theological emphases indicated by the various names are not excluded by the teachings of either tradition. [ dubious  –  discuss ]  Marriage is commonly celebrated in the context of a  Eucharistic  service (a  nuptial Mass  or  Divine Liturgy ).


The Roman Catholic tradition of the 12th and 13th centuries defined marriage as a sacrament ordained by God, [ 227 ]  signifying the mystical marriage of Christ to his Church. [ 234 ]


The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. [ 235 ]


For Catholic and Methodist Christians, the mutual love between husband and wife becomes an image of the eternal love with which God loves humankind. [ 236 ]  In the  United Methodist Church , the celebration of Holy Matrimony ideally occurs in the context of a Service of Worship, which includes the celebration of the Eucharist. [ 233 ]  Likewise, the celebration of marriage between two Catholics normally takes place during the public liturgical celebration of the Holy Mass, because of its sacramental connection with the unity of the Paschal mystery of Christ (Communion). Sacramental marriage confers a perpetual and exclusive bond between the spouses. By its nature, the institution of marriage and conjugal love is ordered to the procreation and upbringing of offspring. Marriage creates rights and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their children: "[e]ntering marriage with the intention of never having children is a grave wrong and more than likely grounds for an annulment". [ 237 ]  According to Roman Catholic legislation, progeny of annulled relationships are considered legitimate. Civilly remarried persons who civilly divorced a living and lawful spouse are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic Communion. [ 238 ]


Divorce  and  remarriage , while generally not encouraged, are regarded differently by each Christian denomination, with certain traditions, such as the Catholic Church, teaching the concept of an  annulment . For example, the  Reformed Church in America  permits divorce and remarriage, [ 239 ]  while connexions such as the  Evangelical Methodist Church Conference  forbid divorce except in the case of  fornication  and do not allow for remarriage in any circumstance. [ 240 ]  The  Eastern Orthodox Church  allows divorce for a limited number of reasons, and in theory, but usually not in practice, requires that a marriage after divorce be celebrated with a penitential overtone. With respect to marriage between a Christian and a pagan, the early Church "sometimes took a more lenient view, invoking the so-called Pauline privilege of permissible separation (1 Cor. 7) as legitimate grounds for allowing a convert to divorce a pagan spouse and then marry a Christian." [ 241 ]


The Catholic Church adheres to the proscription of  Jesus  in  Matthew , 19: 6 that married spouses who have consummated their marriage "are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate." [ 242 ]  Consequently, the Catholic Church understands that it is wholly without authority to terminate a sacramentally valid and consummated marriage, and its  Codex Iuris Canonici  ( 1983 Code of Canon Law ) confirms this in Canons 1055–7. Specifically, Canon 1056 declares that "the essential properties of marriage are unity and  indissolubility ; in [C]hristian marriage they acquire a distinctive  firmness  by reason of the sacrament." [ 243 ]  Canon 1057, §2 declares that marriage is "an  irrevocable  covenant". [ 244 ]  Therefore, divorce of such a marriage is a metaphysical, moral, and legal impossibility. However, the Church has the authority to annul a presumed "marriage" by declaring it to have been invalid from the beginning, i. e., declaring it not to be and never to have been a marriage, in an  annulment  procedure, [ 245 ]  which is basically a fact-finding and fact-declaring effort.


For  Protestant  denominations, the purposes of marriage include intimate companionship, rearing children, and mutual support for both spouses to fulfill their life callings. Most  Reformed Christians  did not regard marriage to the status of a sacrament but considered it a covenant between spouses before God. In addition, some Protestant denominations (such as the Methodist Churches) affirmed that Holy Matrimony is a " means of grace , thus, sacramental in character". [ 246 ]


Since the 16th century, five competing models have shaped marriage in the Western tradition, as described by  John Witte, Jr. : [ 247 ]


Members of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (LDS Church) believe that " marriage  between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the  Creator's plan  for the eternal destiny of His children." [ 249 ]  Their view of marriage is that family relationships can endure beyond the grave. [ 250 ]  This is known as 'eternal marriage' which can be eternal only when authorized priesthood holders perform the sealing ordinance in sacred  temples . [ 251 ]


With respect to religion, historic Christian belief emphasizes that Christian weddings should occur in a  church  as Christian marriage should begin where one also starts their faith journey (Christians receive the sacrament of  baptism  in church in the presence of their  congregation ). [ 252 ]  Catholic Christian weddings must "take place in a church building" as holy matrimony is a sacrament; sacraments normatively occur in the presence of Christ in the house of God, and "members of the faith community [should be] present to witness the event and provide support and encouragement for those celebrating the sacrament." [ 252 ]  Bishops never grant permission "to those requesting to be married in a garden, on the beach, or some other place outside of the church" and a dispensation is only granted "in extraordinary circumstances (for example, if a bride or groom is ill or disabled and unable to come to the church)." [ 252 ]  Marriage in the church, for Christians, is seen as contributing to the fruit of the newlywed couple regularly attending church each  Lord's Day  and raising children in the faith. [ 252 ]


Although many Christian denominations do not currently perform  same-sex marriages , many do, such as the  Presbyterian Church (USA) , some dioceses of the  Episcopal Church , the  Metropolitan Community Church ,  Quakers ,  United Church of Canada , and  United Church of Christ  congregations, and some  Anglican  dioceses, for example. [ 253 ] [ 254 ]  Same-sex marriage is recognized by various  religious denominations . [ 255 ] [ 256 ]


Islam  also commends marriage, with the age of marriage being whenever the individuals feel ready, financially and emotionally. [ 257 ]


In Islam,  polygyny  is allowed while  polyandry  is not, with the specific  limitation  that a man can have no more than four legal wives at any one time and an unlimited number of  female slaves  as  concubines  who may have rights similar wives, with the exception of not being free unless the man has children with them, with the requirement that the man is able and willing to partition his time and wealth equally among the respective wives and concubines (this practice of concubinage, as in Judaism, is not applicable in contemporary times and has been deemed by scholars as invalid due to shifts in views about the role of slavery in the world). [ 258 ]


For a Muslim wedding to take place, the bridegroom and the guardian of the bride ( wali ) must both agree on the marriage. Should the guardian disagree on the marriage, it may not legally take place. If the  wali  of the girl is her father or paternal grandfather, he has the right to force her into marriage even against her proclaimed will, if it is her first marriage, the exercise of this power is, however, very strictly regulated in the interests of the bride. A guardian who is allowed to force the bride into marriage is called  wali mujbir . As minors are not in a position to make a declaration of their wishes which is valid in law, they can only be married at all by a wali mudjbir, but a woman married in this way by another than her ascendant is entitled on coming of age to demand that her marriage be declared void ( faskh ) by the  qadi . [ 259 ]


From an Islamic ( Sharia ) law perspective, the minimum requirements and responsibilities in a Muslim marriage are that the groom provide living expenses to the bride, and in return, the bride's main responsibility is raising children to be proper Muslims. All other rights and responsibilities are to be decided between the husband and wife, and may even be included as stipulations in the marriage contract, so long as they do not go against the minimum requirements of the marriage.


In  Sunni Islam ,  marriage  must take place in the presence of at least two reliable witnesses, with the consent of the guardian of the bride and the consent of the groom. Following the marriage, the couple may consummate the marriage. To create an ' urf  marriage, it is sufficient that a man and a woman indicate an intention to marry each other and recite the requisite words in front of a suitable Muslim. The wedding party usually follows but can be held days, or months later, whenever the couple and their families want to; however, there can be no concealment of the marriage as it is regarded as public notification due to the requirement of witnesses. [ 260 ] [ 261 ] [ 262 ] [ 263 ]


In  Shia Islam , marriage may take place without the presence of witnesses as is often the case in temporary  Nikah mut'ah  (prohibited in Sunni Islam), but with the consent of both the bride and the groom. Following the marriage, they may consummate their marriage. [ 264 ]


In  Judaism , marriage is based on the laws of the  Torah  and is a contractual bond between spouses in which the spouses agree to be consecrated to one another. [ 265 ]  This contract is called  Kiddushin . [ 266 ]  Though procreation is not the sole purpose, a Jewish marriage is also expected to fulfill the commandment to have children, as it is written "God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fertile and increase. ' " [ 267 ]  The main focus centers around the relationship between the spouses.  Kabbalistically , marriage is understood to mean that the spouses are merging into a single soul. In Kabbalistic thought, a man is considered "incomplete" if he is not married, as his soul is only one part of a larger whole that remains to be unified. [ 268 ]


The  Hebrew Bible  describes a number of marriages, including those of  Isaac , [ 269 ]   Jacob [ 270 ]  and  Samson . [ 271 ]   Polygyny , or men having multiple wives at once, is one of the most common marital arrangements represented in the Hebrew Bible; [ 272 ]  another is that of concubinage ( pilagshut ) which was often arranged by a man, and a woman who generally enjoyed the same rights as a full legal wife. Other means of concubinage are observed by the author of Judges 19–20, [ 273 ]  or during war, as in Deuteronomy 21:10–12. [ 274 ]  The rabbis of the Talmud exhibited discomfort with abduction of women in war for the purpose of marriage, declaring it to be a "compromise against man's  evil inclination " to be avoided. [ 275 ]  Today  Ashkenazi Jews  are prohibited to take more than one wife because of a ban instituted on this by  Gershom ben Judah  (d. 1040 CE). However, academic scholarship indicates that prohibitions on polygyny may have existed far earlier, based on the  Damascus Covenant . [ 276 ]


Among ancient Hebrews, marriage was a domestic affair and not a religious ceremony; no officiant or witness was required by law.  The Rambam  wrote that "before the Torah was given, when a man would meet a woman in the marketplace and he and she decided to marry, he would bring her home, conduct relations in private and thus make her his wife." Subsequently, to the Torah being handed down at Sinai, however, the Jews received the commandment that a marriage must be witnessed. [ 277 ]


Betrothal ( erusin ), which refers to the time that this binding contract is made, is distinct from marriage itself ( nissu'in ), with the time between these events varying substantially. [ 272 ] [ 278 ]  In biblical times, a wife was regarded as  personal property , belonging to her husband; [ 272 ] [ 278 ]  the descriptions of the Bible suggest that she would be expected to perform tasks such as spinning, sewing, weaving, manufacture of clothing, fetching of water, baking of bread, and  animal husbandry . [ 270 ]  A husband's obligations to his wife are 1) to provide her with food and care; 2) to supply her clothing and shelter; 3) to share a home with her; 4) to provide the ketubah (marriage contract); 5) to supply medical care if she falls ill; 6) to ransom her back if she is kidnapped; 7) to provide proper burial when she dies; 8) to provide for her materially if he predeceases her; 9) to provide for the support of their daughters until they marry or become adults; and 10) to see that their sons inherit the money specified in her ketubah, in addition to their portion of his estate. [ 279 ]  Men are also obligated sexually to their wives, per BT Ketubot 61b:10, with the frequency of marital relations determined in part by the occupation (and hence availability) of the husband. [ 280 ]


Because a wife was regarded as property, her husband was originally free to divorce her for any reason, at any time. [ 278 ]  However, Talmudic sources complicate this matter significantly, with Beit Shammai stating that a man may divorce his wife only if she has committed a sexual transgression (such as adultery). [ 281 ]  Divorcing a woman against her will was also banned by  Gershom ben Judah  for  Ashkenazi Jews . A divorced couple were permitted to remarry, unless the wife had married someone else after her divorce. [ 282 ]


Hinduism  regards  Vivāha  or  Biye  (marriage) to be a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. It is regarded to be an important  samskara , or a rite of passage. [ 283 ]   Hindu texts  describe four  purusharthas  (goals of existence):  dharma  (righteousness),  artha  (wealth),  kama  (desire), and  moksha  (liberation). The purpose of the marriage  samskara  is to fulfill the goal of  kama , allowing an adherent to gradually advance towards the attainment of  moksha . The  Manusmriti  describes many different types of marriages and their categorisation, ranging from the  gandharva vivaha [ 284 ]  (a consensual marriage of love between a man and a woman without the performance of rituals or witnesses) to the  rakshasa vivaha [ 284 ]  (a "demoniac" marriage, performed by abduction of one participant by the other participant, usually, but not always, with the help of other persons). In the  Indian subcontinent ,  arranged marriages , in which the spouse's parents or an older family member choose the partner, are still predominant in comparison with  love marriages  in the contemporary period. The  Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act 1856  empowers a Hindu widow to remarry. [ 285 ]


The Buddhist view of marriage considers marriage a secular affair and thus not a  sacrament . Buddhists are expected to follow the civil laws regarding marriage laid out by their respective governments. Gautama Buddha, being a  kshatriya  was required by Shakyan tradition to pass a series of tests to prove himself as a warrior, before he was allowed to marry.


In a Sikh marriage, the couple walks around the  Guru Granth Sahib  holy book four times, and a holy man recites from it in the  kirtan  style. The ceremony is known as ' Anand Karaj ' and represents the holy union of two souls united as one.


Wiccan marriages are commonly known as handfastings and are a celebration held by Wiccans.  Handfasting  was originally a medieval ritual and has been revived by contemporary Pagans. In the ritual, the couple's wrists are tied together to symbolize the binding of two lives. It is commonly used in Wicca and Pagan ceremonies, but it has become more mainstream and comes up in both religious and secular vows and readings. Although handfastings vary for each Wiccan they often involve honoring Wiccan deities. [ 286 ]  Some Wiccan traditions have a marriage vow "for as long as love lasts" instead of the traditional Christian "till death do us part". The first Wiccan wedding took place in 1960, between  Frederic Lamond  and his wife, Gillian. Most Wiccan traditions will celebrate same-sex and different-sex handfastings. [ 286 ]  The length of commitment varies from a year and a day (after which the vows may be renewed), "as long as love shall last", for a lifetime, or for future incarnations.


Consensual sex is considered sacred for Wiccans. Some traditions perform the Great Rite, in which a High Priest and High Priestess invoke the God and Goddess on each other before making love. It can be used to raise magical energy for the use of spell work. It can also be performed symbolically, using the athame to symbolize masculine energy and the chalice to symbolize feminine energy. [ 287 ]


Marriage, like other close relationships, exerts considerable influence on  health . [ 288 ]  Married people experience lower  morbidity  and mortality across such diverse health threats as  cancer ,  heart attacks , and  surgery . [ 289 ]  Research on marriage and health is part of the broader study of the benefits of social relationships.


Social ties provide people with a sense of identity, purpose, belonging, and support. [ 290 ]  Simply being married, as well as the quality of one's marriage, have been linked to diverse measures of health. [ 288 ] [ clarification needed ]


The health-protective effect of marriage is stronger for men than women. [ 289 ] [ 291 ]  Marital status—the simple fact of being married—confers more health benefits to men than women. [ 289 ]


Women's health is more strongly impacted than men's by marital conflict or satisfaction, such that unhappily married women do not enjoy better health relative to their single counterparts. [ 289 ] [ 291 ] [ 292 ]  Most research on marriage and health has focused on heterosexual couples; more work is needed to clarify the health impacts of  same-sex marriage . [ 288 ]


In most societies, the death of one of the partners terminates the marriage, and in monogamous societies, this allows the other partner to remarry, though sometimes after a waiting or mourning period.


In some societies, a marriage can be  annulled , when an authority declares that a marriage never happened. Jurisdictions often have provisions for  void marriages  or  voidable marriages .


A marriage may also be terminated through  divorce . Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). As of 2012, the  Philippines  and the  Vatican City  are the only jurisdictions which do not allow divorce (this is currently under discussion in Philippines). [ 293 ]  After divorce, one spouse may have to pay  alimony .  Laws concerning divorce  and the ease with which a divorce can be obtained vary widely around the world. After a divorce or an annulment, the people concerned are free to remarry (or marry).


A statutory right of two married partners to mutually consent to divorce was enacted in western nations in the mid-20th century. In the United States,  no-fault divorce  was first enacted in California in 1969 and the final state to legalize it was New York in 1989. [ 294 ]


About 45% of marriages in Britain [ 295 ]  and, according to a 2009 study, 46% of marriages in the U.S. [ 296 ]  end in divorce.


The history of marriage is often considered under  history of the family  or legal history. [ 297 ]


Many cultures have legends concerning the origins of marriage. The way in which a marriage is conducted and its rules and ramifications have changed over time, as has the institution itself, depending on the culture or demographic of the time. [ 298 ]


The first recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting a man and a woman dates back to approximately 2350 BC, in ancient  Mesopotamia . [ 299 ]  Wedding ceremonies, as well as dowry and divorce, can be traced back to Mesopotamia and  Babylonia . [ 300 ]


According to ancient Hebrew tradition, a wife was seen as being property of high value and was, therefore, usually, carefully looked after. [ 272 ] [ 278 ]  Early nomadic communities in the Middle East practiced a form of marriage known as  beena , in which a wife would own a tent of her own, within which she retains complete independence from her husband. [ 301 ]  The  Covenant Code  orders "If he take him another; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish (or lessen)". The  Talmud  interprets this as a requirement for a man to provide food and clothing to, and have sex with, each of his wives. [ 302 ] [ clarification needed ]  However, "duty of marriage" is also interpreted as whatever one does as a married couple, which is more than just sexual activity. And the term diminish, which means to lessen, shows the man must treat her as if he was not married to another.


As a  polygynous  society, the Israelites did not have any laws that imposed marital fidelity on men. [ 303 ] [ 304 ]   Adulterous  married women, adulterous betrothed women, and the men who slept with them, however, were subject to the  death penalty  by  the biblical laws against adultery . The  literary prophets  indicate that adultery was a frequent occurrence, despite these legal strictness's. [ 303 ]


In  ancient Greece , no specific civil ceremony was required for the creation of a heterosexual marriage – only mutual agreement and the fact that the couple must regard each other as husband and wife accordingly. [ 305 ]  Men usually married when they were in their 20s and women in their teens. [ 306 ]  It has been suggested that these ages made sense for the Greeks because men were generally done with military service or financially established by their late 20s, and marrying a teenage girl ensured ample time for her to bear children, as life expectancies were significantly lower. [ citation needed ]  Married Greek women had few rights in ancient Greek society and were expected to take care of the house and children. [ citation needed ]  Time was an important factor in Greek marriage. For example, there were superstitions that being married during a  full moon  was good luck and Greeks married in the winter in honor of Hera. [ 305 ]  Inheritance was more important than feelings: a woman whose father dies without male heirs could be forced to marry her nearest male relative – even if she had to divorce her husband first. [ 307 ]


There were several types of marriages in ancient Roman society. The traditional ("conventional") form called  conventio in manum  required a ceremony with witnesses and was also dissolved with a ceremony. [ 308 ]  In this type of marriage, a woman lost her family rights of inheritance of her old family and gained them with her new one. She now was subject to the authority of her husband. [ 309 ]  There was the free marriage known as  sine manu . In this arrangement, the wife remained a member of her original family; she stayed under the authority of her father, kept her family rights of inheritance with her old family and did not gain any with the new family. [ 310 ]  The minimum age of marriage for girls was 12. [ 311 ]


Among ancient  Germanic  tribes, the bride and groom were roughly the same age and generally older than their Roman counterparts, at least according to  Tacitus :


The youths partake late of the pleasures of love, and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted: nor are the virgins hurried into marriage; the same maturity, the same full growth is required: the sexes unite equally matched and robust, and the children inherit the vigor of their parents. [ 312 ]


Where  Aristotle  had set the prime of life at 37 years for men and 18 for women, the  Visigothic Code of law  in the 7th century placed the prime of life at 20 years for both men and women, after which both presumably married. Tacitus states that ancient Germanic brides were on average about 20 and were roughly the same age as their husbands. [ 313 ]  Tacitus, however, had never visited the German-speaking lands and most of his information on  Germania  comes from secondary sources. In addition,  Anglo-Saxon  women, like those of other Germanic tribes, are marked as women from the age of 12 and older, based on archaeological finds, implying that the age of marriage coincided with  puberty . [ 314 ]


From the  early Christian  era (30 to 325 CE), marriage was thought of as primarily a private matter, with no uniform religious or other ceremony being required. [ 315 ]  However, bishop  Ignatius of Antioch , writing around 110, exhorts, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust." [ 316 ]


In 12th-century Europe, women took the surname of their husbands and starting in the second half of the 16th century parental consent along with the church's consent was required for marriage. [ 317 ]


With few local exceptions, until 1545, Christian marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties. [ 318 ] [ 319 ]  The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required. [ 320 ]  This promise was known as the "verbum." If freely given and made in the present tense (e.g., "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding; [ 318 ]  if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a  betrothal .


According to the  Charter of Navarre , the basic union consisted of a civil marriage with no priest required and at least two witnesses, and the contract could be broken using the same formula. [ citation needed ]  The Church in turn lashed out at those who got married twice or thrice in a row while their formers spouses were still alive. In 1563 the  Council of Trent , twenty-fourth session, required that a valid marriage must be performed by a priest before two witnesses. [ 321 ]


One of the functions of churches from the  Middle Ages  was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in  ecclesiastical courts . During the Middle Ages marriages were arranged, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. The church resisted these imposed unions, and increased the number of causes for nullification of these arrangements. [ 317 ]  As Christianity spread during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the idea of free choice in selecting marriage partners increased and spread with it. [ 317 ]


In medieval Western Europe, later marriage and higher rates of definitive  celibacy  (the so-called "European marriage pattern") helped to constrain patriarchy at its most extreme level. For example,  Medieval England  saw marriage age as variable depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until the early twenties when times were bad and falling to the late teens after the  Black Death , when there were labor shortages; [ 322 ]  by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England. [ 323 ] [ 324 ]  Where the strong influence of classical  Celtic  and  Germanic  cultures (which were not rigidly patriarchal) [ 325 ] [ 326 ]  helped to offset the Judaeo-Roman patriarchal influence, [ 327 ]  in Eastern Europe the tradition of early and universal marriage (often in early  adolescence ), [ 328 ]  as well as traditional  Slavic  patrilocal custom, [ 329 ]  led to a greatly inferior status of women at all levels of society. [ 330 ]


The average age of marriage for most of  Northwestern Europe  from 1500 to 1800 was around  25 years of age ; [ 331 ] [ 332 ] [ 333 ]  as the Church dictated that both parties had to be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their parents, the bride and groom were roughly the same age, with most brides in their early twenties and most grooms two or three years older, [ 333 ]  and a substantial number of women married for the first time in their thirties and forties, particularly in urban areas, [ 334 ]  with the average age at first marriage rising and falling as circumstances dictated. In better times, more people could afford to marry earlier and thus fertility rose and conversely marriages were delayed or forgone when times were bad, thus restricting family size; [ 335 ]  after the  Black Death , the greater availability of profitable jobs allowed more people to marry young and have more children, [ 336 ]  but the stabilization of the population in the 16th century meant fewer job opportunities and thus more people delaying marriages. [ 337 ]


The age of marriage was not absolute, however, as child marriages occurred throughout the Middle Ages and later, with just some of them including:


As part of the  Protestant Reformation , the role of recording marriages and setting the rules for marriage passed to the state, reflecting  Martin Luther 's view that marriage was a "worldly thing". [ 340 ]  By the 17th century, many of the  Protestant  European countries had a state involvement in marriage.


In England, under the Anglican Church, marriage by consent and cohabitation was valid until the passage of  Marriage Act 1753 . This act instituted certain requirements for marriage, including the performance of a religious ceremony observed by witnesses. [ 341 ]


As part of the  Counter-Reformation , in 1563 the  Council of Trent  decreed that a  Roman Catholic  marriage would be recognized only if the marriage ceremony was officiated by a priest with two witnesses. The council also authorized a  Catechism , issued in 1566, which defined marriage as "The conjugal union of man and woman, contracted between two qualified persons, which obliges them to live together throughout life." [ 227 ]


In the  early modern period ,  John Calvin  and his  Protestant  colleagues reformulated Christian marriage by enacting the Marriage Ordinance of Geneva, which imposed "The dual requirements of state registration and church consecration to constitute marriage" [ 227 ]  for recognition.


In  England and Wales , Lord Hardwicke's  Marriage Act 1753  required a formal ceremony of marriage, thereby curtailing the practice of  Fleet Marriage , an irregular or a clandestine marriage. [ 342 ]  From the 1690s until the  Marriage Act 1753  as many as 300,000 clandestine marriages were performed at Fleet Prison alone. [ 343 ]  The act required a marriage ceremony to be officiated by an Anglican priest in the  Anglican Church  with two witnesses and registration. The act did not apply to Jewish marriages or those of Quakers, whose marriages continued to be governed by their own customs.


In England and Wales, since 1837, civil marriages have been recognized as a legal alternative to church marriages under the  Marriage Act 1836 . In Germany, civil marriages were recognized in 1875. This law permitted a declaration of the marriage before an official clerk of the civil administration, when both spouses affirm their will to marry, to constitute a legally recognized valid and effective marriage, and allowed an optional private clerical marriage ceremony.


In contemporary  English common law , a marriage is a voluntary  contract  by a man and a woman, in which by agreement they choose to become husband and wife. [ 344 ]  Edvard Westermarck proposed that "the institution of marriage has probably developed out of a primeval habit". [ 345 ]


Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, and more couples choosing to  cohabit  rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005. [ 346 ]  As of 2000, the average marriage age range was 25–44 years for men and 22–39 years for women.


The mythological origin of Chinese marriage is a story about  Nüwa  and  Fu Xi  who invented proper marriage procedures after becoming married. In ancient Chinese society, people of the same surname are supposed to consult with their  family trees  prior to marriage to reduce the potential risk of unintentional incest. Marrying one's maternal relatives was generally not thought of as incest. Families sometimes intermarried from one generation to another. Over time, Chinese people became more geographically mobile. Individuals remained members of their biological families. When a couple died, the husband and the wife were buried separately in the respective clan's graveyard. In a maternal marriage, a male would become a son-in-law who lived in the wife's home.


The  New Marriage Law  of 1950 radically changed Chinese marriage traditions, enforcing  monogamy , equality of men and women, and choice in marriage;  arranged marriages  were the most common type of marriage in China until then. Starting October 2003, it became legal to marry or divorce without authorization from the couple's work units. [ 347 ] [ clarification needed ]  Although people with infectious diseases such as AIDS may now marry, marriage is still illegal for the mentally ill. [ 348 ]


The practice of  matrilocality  in Korea started in the  Goguryeo  period and ended in the early  Joseon  period. [ 349 ] [ 350 ]  The Korean saying that when a man gets married, he is "entering  jangga " (the house of his father-in-law), stems from the Goguryeo period. [ 351 ]


Marumakkathayam  was a system of  matrilineal   inheritance  prevalent in regions of the  Indian  state of  Kerala . It is similar to the  Aliyasanthana  system followed by the Bunt community in Karnataka [ 1 ]


The word " Marumakkathayam " originated from the  Malayalam  word "marumakkal" also known as "Anandaravar," which mean "sister's child," " nephews ," or " nieces " in  English .


Through this system, descent and the inheritance of property were passed from the  maternal   uncle  to nephews or nieces.


The right of the child was with the maternal uncle or the mother's family rather than the  father  or the father's family. Through this bloodline,  surnames ,  titles ,  properties , and everything of the child are inherited from his uncle or mother.


The joint family under the matrilineal system is known as  Tharavad  also knowns Kudumbakkar or veedu, formed the nucleus of the society. The eldest male was considered the head of the family, known as the  karanavar , and he controlled all the family assets. However, his sons did not inherit the properties; instead, inheritance went to the children of his sisters.


This system was not  matriarchal  as is sometimes misinterpreted, and was strongly  patriarchal  with only a male allowed to be the head of the family. [ 2 ]


One Popular theory pertains to the  ancient martial  tradition of the  Nairs . Boys were sent to military training or  warfare  at the age of eight, dedicating themselves solely to mastering the art of warfare and rule the Kingdom. For them, death by any means other than on the battlefield was a shameful disgrace. Driven by an unwavering commitment to military excellence, glorious bloodshed and honorable combat, they prioritized martial pursuits over familial or economic endeavors. As a result, They had no time for family reunions, thus the responsibility for the upbringing of their children fell upon the mother or her family. Indeed, this emphasis on martial prowess and a warrior's code of honor is often cited as the foundation of the matrilineal succession system, which is later influenced others. [ 3 ]


The customary law of inheritance was codified by the Madras Marumakkathayam Act 1932, Madras Act No. 22 of 1933, published in the  Fort St. George Gazette  on 1 August 1933. [ 4 ]


Malabar District  was part of the  Madras Presidency  in  British India . In the Madras Marumakkathayam Act 1932, 'Marumakkathayam' is defined as the system of inheritance in which descent is traced by females, and 'Marumakkathayee' means a person governed by the Marumakkathayam law of inheritance. The system of inheritance is now abolished by The Joint Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975, by the Kerala State Legislature.


By the beginning of the 20th century, marumakkathayam was increasingly seen as an undesirable remnant of a feudal past, and discontented groups including Nair and Ambalavasi men sought to bring reform. The reforms were pushed through in spite of opposition from conservative factions led by  Kesava Pillai of Kandamath  in the Travancore Court, Sree Mulam State Council and by leading members of society such as  C. V. Raman Pillai [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  in the states of  Cochin  and  Travancore , and the British Indian province of  Malabar , which later joined together to form Kerala in 1957.


Matrilineal system or marumakkathayam is traditionally followed by  Nairs ,  Nambyars  and some  Nambudiri Brahmin  families.Some  Muslim  families of Thalassery,Nadapuram and Kuttiady regions, who was earlier converted from nair caste followed this system. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]


The term  matrilateral  describes kin (relatives) "on the mother's side".


Social anthropologists have underlined that even where a social group demonstrates a strong emphasis on one or other line of inheritance ( matrilineal  or  patrilineal ), relatives who fall outside this unilineal grouping will not simply be ignored. So, a strongly patrilineal orientation will be complemented by matrilateral ties with the mother's kin. Likewise within a strongly matrilineal organisation,  patrilateral  ties will enter the reckoning of relationships as an important balancing factor. This complementarity often has a moral or emotional tone to it:  Malinowski 's classic studies of the matrilineal  Trobriand  islanders showed that matrilineal ties were associated with discipline and authority, while patrilateral ties were characterised by nurturance and kindness (at least in principle). Likewise, in  Chinua Achebe 's novel  Things Fall Apart , the hero, Okonkwo, is forced into exile from his own ancestral village to the village of his matrilateral kin who should, by rights, treat him with maternal fondness.


Matrilateral  cross-cousin  marriage is typically used by anthropologists to describe a form of marriage in which the sons of one  consanguineous  group marry the daughters of the consanguineous group from which their mother originates. This may take the form of a preference for this kind of cousin marriage or a prescription that this is what will happen. The logical consequences of cross-cousin marriage (matrilateral or patrilateral) for group formation were first discussed in detail by  Reo Fortune [ 1 ]  and have provoked a great deal of debate amongst social anthropologists including  Claude Lévi-Strauss ,  Edmund Leach  and  Rodney Needham  ( alliance theory ).


In  anthropology , the  matrilineal belt  is an area in Africa south of the equator centered in south-central Africa where  matrilineality  is predominant. The matrilineal belt runs diagonally from the  Atlantic  to the  Indian  ocean, crossing  Angola ,  Zambia ,  Malawi  and  Mozambique . The belt is linked to  horticultural  household economics, and  Bantu  groups that have embraced  pastoralism  have tended to lose matrilinearity. [ 1 ]


Hypotheses linking the matrilineal belt to a supposed matrilineal  Bantu expansion  have been rejected as lacking evidence. [ 2 ]


Matrilineality  is the tracing of  kinship  through the female line. It may also correlate with a  social system  in which each person is identified with their matriline, their mother's  lineage , and which can involve the  inheritance  of property and titles. A matriline is a  line of descent  from a  female   ancestor  to a  descendant  of either  gender  in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers. In a matrilineal  descent system , an individual is considered to belong to the same  descent group  as their mother. This ancient matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of  patrilineal descent  from which a  family name  is usually derived. The  matriline  of historical nobility was also called their  enatic  or  uterine  ancestry, corresponding to the  patrilineal  or "agnatic" ancestry.


In the late 19th century, almost all prehistorians and anthropologists believed, following  Lewis H. Morgan 's influential book  Ancient Society , that early human kinship everywhere was matrilineal. [ 1 ]  This idea was taken up by  Friedrich Engels  in   The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State . The Morgan-Engels thesis that humanity's earliest domestic institution was not the  family  but the matrilineal  clan  soon became incorporated into  communist orthodoxy . In reaction, most 20th century social anthropologists considered the theory of matrilineal priority untenable, [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  although during the 1970s and 1980s, a range of  feminist  scholars often attempted to revive it. [ 4 ]


In recent years,  evolutionary biologists , geneticists and  palaeoanthropologists  have been reassessing the issues, many citing genetic and other evidence that early human kinship may have been matrilineal after all. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]  One crucial piece of indirect evidence has been genetic data suggesting that over thousands of years, women among  sub-Saharan African  hunter-gatherers have chosen to reside postmaritally not with their husbands' family but with their own mother and other natal kin. [ 9 ]  Another line of argument is that when sisters and their mothers help each other with childcare, the descent line tends to be matrilineal rather than patrilineal. [ 10 ]  Biological anthropologists are now widely agreed that cooperative childcare was a development crucial in making possible the evolution of the unusually large human brain and characteristically human psychology. [ 11 ]  Although others refute the claims of supporters of the universality of  matrilocality  or  patrilocality , pointing out that hunter-gatherer societies have a flexible  philopatry  or practice multilocality, which in turn leads to a more egalitarian society, since both men and women have the right to choose with whom to live. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]  According to some data, pastoralists and farmers strongly gravitate towards patrilocality, so patrilocality is a common phenomenon among non-Pygmies. [ 14 ]  But among some hunter-gatherers, patrilocality is less common than among farmers. So for example, among the pygmies of Aka, which includes Biaka and Benzene, a young couple usually settles in her husband's camp after the birth of their first child. [ 15 ]  However, the husband can stay in the wife's community, where one of his brothers or sisters can join him. This can happen in societies where the bride's service is practiced, or in any other societies. According to the data above, some scientists also say that kinship and residence in hunter-gatherer societies are complex and multifaceted. For example, when re-checking past data (which were not very reliable), the researchers note that about 40% of the groups were bilocal, 22.9% were matrilocal and 25% were patrilocal. [ 16 ]  A number of scientists also advocate multilocality, refuting the concepts of exceptional matrilocality (matrilineality) or patrilocality (patrilineality). [ 12 ] [ 17 ]


Matrilineal   surnames  are names transmitted from mother to daughter, in contrast to the more familiar  patrilineal surnames  transmitted from father to son, the pattern most common among  family names  today. For clarity and for brevity, the scientific terms  patrilineal surname  and  matrilineal surname  are usually abbreviated as  patriname  and  matriname . [ 18 ]


There appears to be some evidence for the presence of matrilineality in  Pre-Islamic Arabia , in a very limited number of the Arabian peoples (first of all among the  Amorites  of Yemen, and among some strata of  Nabateans  in Northern Arabia); [ 19 ]


A modern example from South Africa is the order of succession to the position of the  Rain Queen  in a culture of  matrilineal primogeniture : not only is  dynastic  descent reckoned through the female line, but only females are eligible to inherit. [ 20 ]


In some traditional societies and cultures, membership in their groups was – and, in the following list, still  is  if shown in  italics  – inherited matrilineally.  Examples include the  Cherokee ,  Choctaw ,  Gitksan ,  Haida ,  Hopi ,  Iroquois ,  Lenape ,  Navajo  and  Tlingit  of  North America ; the  Cabécar  and  Bribri  of Costa Rica; the  Naso  and  Kuna people  of Panama; the  Kogi ,  Wayuu  and  Carib  of South America; the  Minangkabau  people of  West Sumatra ,  Indonesia  and  Negeri Sembilan ,  Malaysia ; the  Trobrianders ,  Dobu  and  Nagovisi  of Melanesia; the  Nairs , some  Thiyyas  &  Muslims  of  Kerala  and the  Mogaveeras ,  Billavas  & the  Bunts  of  Karnataka  in south  India ; the  Khasi ,  Jaintia  and  Garo  of  Meghalaya  in northeast India and  Bangladesh ; the  Ngalops  and  Sharchops  of  Bhutan ; the  Mosuo  of  China ; the  Kayah  of Southeast Asia, the  Picti  of  Scotland , the  Basques  of  Spain  and  France ; the  Ainu  of  Japan , the  Akan  including the  Ashanti ,  Bono ,  Akwamu ,  Fante  of  Ghana ; most groups across the so-called " matrilineal belt " of south-central Africa; the  Nubians  of Southern  Egypt  &  Sudan  and the  Tuareg  of west and north Africa; the  Serer  of  Senegal ,  The Gambia  and  Mauritania .


Most of the example cultures in this article are based on (matrilineal)  clans .  Any clan might possibly contain from one to several or many  descent groups  or  family groups  – i.e., any matrilineal clan might be descended from one or several or many unrelated female ancestors.  Also, each such descent group might have its own  family name  or  surname , as one possible cultural pattern.  The following two example cultures each follow a different pattern, however:


Example 1.  Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture  Minangkabau  do not even have a  surname  or  family name , see  this culture's own section  below.  In contrast, members do have a  clan name , which is important in their lives although not included in the member's name.  Instead, one's name is just one's  given name .


Example 2.  Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture  Akan , see  its own section  below, also do not have matrilineal  surnames  and likewise their important  clan name  is not included in their name.  However, members' names do commonly include second names which  are called surnames  but which are  not  routinely passed down from either father or mother to all their children as a  family name . [ 21 ]


Note well that if a culture did include one's  clan name  in one's name and routinely handed it down to all children in the  descent group  then it would automatically  be  the  family name  or  surname  for one's descent group (as well as for all other descent groups in one's clan).


While a  mother  normally takes care of her own children in all cultures, in some matrilineal cultures an "uncle-father" will take care of his nieces and nephews instead: in other words  social fathers  here are uncles. There is not a necessary connection between the role of father and genitor. In many such matrilineal cultures, especially where residence is also  matrilocal , a man will exercise guardianship rights not over the children he fathers but over his sisters' children, who are viewed as 'his own flesh'. These children's biological father – unlike an uncle who is their mother's brother and thus their caregiver – is in some sense a 'stranger' to them, even when affectionate and emotionally close. [ 22 ]


According to  Steven Pinker , attributing to Kristen Hawkes, among foraging groups matrilocal societies are less likely to commit female infanticide than are patrilocal societies. [ 23 ]


Some 20 million  Akan  live in Africa, particularly in  Ghana  and  Ivory Coast .  (See as well their subgroups, the  Ashanti , also called Asante,  Akyem ,  Bono ,  Fante ,  Akwamu .) Many but not all of the Akan still (2001) [ 24 ] [ 25 ]  practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditional  extended family  households, as follows.  The traditional Akan economic, political and social organization is based on maternal lineages, which are the basis of inheritance and succession.  A lineage is defined as all those related by  matrilineal descent  from a particular ancestress.  Several lineages are grouped into a  political unit  headed by a chief and a council of elders, each of whom is the elected head of a lineage – which itself may include multiple extended-family households.  Public offices are thus vested in the lineage, as are land tenure and other lineage property.  In other words, lineage property is inherited only by matrilineal kin. [ 24 ] [ 26 ]


"The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors." When a woman's brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit. [ 27 ]


Each lineage controls the lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members. [ 28 ]


The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups called  abusua  (similar to  clans ), named Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko.  The members of each  abusua  are united by their belief that they are all descended from the same ancient ancestress. Marriage between members of the same  abusua  is forbidden. One inherits or is a lifelong member of the lineage, the political unit, and the  abusua  of one's mother, regardless of one's gender and/or marriage. Note that members and their spouses thus belong to different  abusuas , mother and children living and working in one household and their husband/father living and working in a different household. [ 24 ] [ 26 ]


According to this source [ 27 ]  of further information about the Akan, "A man is strongly related to his mother's brother (wɔfa) but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of a  polygamous  society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (sister's son) will have priority over his own son.  Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume a dominant position." [ 27 ]


Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determined  patrilineally  rather than matrilineally. There are 12 patrilineal  Ntoro  (which means spirit) groups, and everyone belongs to their father's Ntoro group but not to his (matrilineal) family lineage and  abusua .  Each patrilineal Ntoro group has its own surnames, [ 29 ]  taboos, ritual purifications, and etiquette. [ 26 ]


A recent (2001) book [ 24 ]  provides this update on the Akan: Some families are changing from the above  abusua  structure to the  nuclear family . [ 30 ]  Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family rather than by the  abusua  or clan, especially in the city. [ 31 ]  The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important, [ 30 ]  with many people still living in the  abusua  framework presented above. [ 24 ]


The  Berber  inhabitants of  Gran Canaria  island had developed a matrilineal society by the time the  Canary Islands  and their people, called  Guanches , were conquered by the Spanish. [ 32 ]


The  Serer people  of  Senegal , the  Gambia  and  Mauritania  are patrilineal ( simanGol  in  Serer language [ 33 ] ) as well as matrilineal ( tim [ 34 ] ). There are several  Serer matriclans  and  matriarchs . Some of these matriarchs include  Fatim Beye  (1335) and  Ndoye Demba  (1367) – matriarchs of the  Joos matriclan  which also became a dynasty in  Waalo  (Senegal). Some  matriclans  or maternal clans form part of  Serer medieval  and  dynastic  history, such as the  Guelowars . The most revered clans tend to be rather ancient and form part of  Serer ancient history . These  proto-Serer  clans hold great significance in  Serer religion  and  mythology . Some of these proto-Serer matriclans include the  Cegandum  and  Kagaw , whose historical account is enshrined in Serer religion, mythology and  traditions . [ 35 ]


In Serer culture, inheritance is both matrilineal and patrilineal. [ 36 ]  It all depends on the asset being inherited – i.e. whether the asset is a paternal asset – requiring paternal inheritance ( kucarla [ 36 ]  ) or a maternal asset – requiring maternal inheritance ( den yaay [ 34 ]  or  ƭeen yaay [ 36 ] ). The actual handling of these maternal assets (such as jewelry, land, livestock, equipment or furniture, etc.) is discussed in the subsection  Role of the Tokoor  of one of the above-listed main articles.


The  Tuareg  (Arabic:طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a large  Berber  ethnic confederation found across several nations in north Africa, including  Niger ,  Mali  and  Algeria . The Tuareg are  clan -based, [ 37 ]  and are (still, in 2007) "largely matrilineal". [ 37 ] [ 38 ] [ 39 ]  The Tuareg are  Muslim , but mixed with a "heavy dose" of their pre-existing beliefs including matrilineality. [ 37 ] [ 39 ]


Tuareg women enjoy high status within their society, compared with their  Arab  counterparts and with other Berber tribes: Tuareg social status is transmitted through women, with residence often  matrilocal . [ 38 ]  Most women could read and write, while most men were illiterate, concerning themselves mainly with herding livestock and other male activities. [ 38 ]  The livestock and other movable property were owned by the women, whereas personal property is owned and inherited regardless of gender. [ 38 ]  In contrast to most other Muslim cultural groups, men wear veils but women do not. [ 37 ] [ 39 ]  This custom is discussed in more detail in the Tuareg article's  clothing section , which mentions it may be the protection needed against the blowing sand while traversing the  Sahara desert . [ 40 ]


The Bororo people of Brazil and Bolivia live in matrilineal clans, with husbands moving to live with their wives' extended families.


The clan system of the Bribri people of Costa Rica and Panama is matrilineal; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. Only women can inherit land.


The social organization of the Cabécar people of Costa Rica is predicated on matrilineal clans in which the mother is the head of household. Each matrilineal clan controls marriage possibilities, regulates land tenure, and determines property inheritance for its members.


In the traditional culture of the  Guna people  of Panama and Colombia, families are matrilinear and matrilocal, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family. The groom also takes the last name of the bride.


The  Hopi  (in what is now the  Hopi Reservation  in northeastern  Arizona ), according to  Alice Schlegel , had as its "gender ideology ... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality." [ 41 ]  According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles ... are egalitarian .... [and] [n]either sex is inferior." [ 42 ]  LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in ... political decision-making." [ 43 ]  According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here" [ 44 ]  and "the attitude of female superiority is fading". [ 44 ]  Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilinial" [ 45 ]  and "the household ... was matrilocal". [ 45 ]


Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good ... [with] the female principle ... activated in women and in Mother Earth ... as its source" [ 46 ]  and that the Hopi "were not in a state of continual war with equally matched neighbors" [ 47 ]  and "had no standing army" [ 47 ]  so that "the Hopi lacked the spur to masculine superiority" [ 47 ]  and, within that, as that women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)", [ 47 ]  the  Clan Mother , for example, being empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair, [ 46 ]  since there was no "countervailing ... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure". [ 46 ]


The  Iroquois Confederacy or League , combining five to six Native American  Haudenosaunee  nations or tribes before the  U.S.  became a nation, operated by  The Great Binding Law of Peace , a constitution by which women retained matrilineal-rights and participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war, [ 48 ]  through what may have been a matriarchy [ 49 ]  or "gyneocracy". [ 50 ]  The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown: the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880. [ 51 ]  The League still exists.


Other Iroquoian-speaking peoples such as the  Wyandot  and the  Meherrin , that were never part of the Iroquois League, nevertheless have traditionally possessed a matrilineal family structure.


The Kogi people of northern Colombia practice bilateral inheritance, with certain rights, names or associations descending matrilineally.


Occupied for 10,000 years by  Native Americans , the land that is present-day  New Jersey  was overseen by  clans  of the  Lenape , who farmed, fished, and hunted upon it. The pattern of their culture was that of a matrilineal agricultural and mobile hunting society that was sustained with fixed, but not permanent, settlements in their  matrilineal clan  territories.  Leadership by men was inherited through the maternal line, and the women elders held the power to remove leaders of whom they disapproved.


Villages were established and relocated as the clans farmed new sections of the land when soil fertility lessened and when they moved among their fishing and hunting grounds by seasons. The area was claimed as a part of the Dutch  New Netherland  province dating from 1614, where active trading in furs took advantage of the natural pass west, but the Lenape prevented permanent settlement beyond what is now Jersey City.


"Early Europeans who first wrote about these Indians found matrilineal social organization to be unfamiliar and perplexing. As a result, the early records are full of 'clues' about early Lenape society, but were usually written by observers who did not fully understand what they were seeing." [ 52 ]


The Mandan people of the northern Great Plains of the United States historically lived in matrilineal extended family lodges.


The Naso (Teribe or Térraba) people of Panama and Costa Rica describe themselves as a matriarchal community, although their monarchy has traditionally been inherited in the male line.


The Navajo people of the American southwest are a matrilineal society in which kinship, children, livestock and family histories are passed down through the female. In marriage the groom moved to live with the brides family. Children also came from their mother's clan living in hogans of the females family.


The Tanana Athabaskan people, the original inhabitants of the Tanana River basin in Alaska and Canada, traditionally lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.


The  Powhatan  and other tribes of the  Tsenacommacah , also known as the Powhatan Confederacy, practiced a version of male-preference matrilineal  seniority , favoring brothers over sisters in the current generation (but allowing sisters to inherit if no brothers remained), but passing to the next generation through the eldest female line. In  A Map of Virginia   John Smith of Jamestown  explains:


His [ Chief Powhatan 's] kingdome descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren, whereof he hath 3 namely Opitchapan,  Opechancanough , and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to the eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males. [ 53 ]


The Upper Kuskokwim people are the original inhabitants of the Upper Kuskokwim River basin. They speak an Athabaskan language more closely related to Tanana than to the language of the Lower Kuskokkwim River basin. They were traditionally hunter-gatherers who lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.


The Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela live in matrilineal clans, with paternal relationships in the background.


Originally,  Chinese surnames  were derived matrilineally, [ 54 ]  although by the time of the  Shang dynasty  (1600 to 1046  BCE ) they had become patrilineal. [ 55 ]


Archaeological data supports the theory that during the  Neolithic  period (7000 to 2000  BCE ) in China, Chinese matrilineal clans evolved into the usual patrilineal families by passing through a transitional patrilineal clan phase. [ 55 ]  Evidence includes some "richly furnished" tombs for young women in the early Neolithic  Yangshao  culture, whose multiple other collective burials imply a matrilineal clan culture. [ 55 ]  Toward the late Neolithic period, when burials were apparently of couples, "a reflection of patriarchy", an increasing elaboration of presumed chiefs' burials is reported. [ 55 ]


Relatively isolated ethnic minorities such as the  Mosuo  (Na) in southwestern China are highly matrilineal.


Of communities recognized in the  national Constitution  as Scheduled Tribes, "some ... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal" [ 56 ]  "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian." [ 57 ]  Several Hindu communities in South India practiced matrilineality, especially the  Nair [ 58 ] [ 59 ]  (or  Nayar ) and  Tiyyas [ 60 ]  in the state of  Kerala , and the  Bunts  and  Billava  in the states of  Karnataka . The system of inheritance was known as  Marumakkathayam  in the  Nair  community or  Aliyasantana  in the  Bunt  and the  Billava  community, and both communities were subdivided into  clans . This system was exceptional in the sense that it was one of the few traditional systems in western historical records of India that gave women some liberty and the right to property.


In the matrilineal system, the family lived together in a  tharavadu  which was composed of a mother, her brothers and younger sisters, and her children. The oldest male member was known as the  karanavar  and was the head of the household, managing the family estate. Lineage was traced through the mother, and the children belonged to the mother's family. In earlier days,  surnames  would be of the maternal side. All family property was jointly owned. In the event of a partition, the shares of the children were clubbed with that of the mother. The karanavar's property was inherited by his sisters' sons rather than his own sons.  (For further information see the articles  Nair  and  ambalavasi  and  Bunts  and  Billava .)  Amitav Ghosh  has stated that, although there were numerous other matrilineal succession systems in communities of the south Indian coast, the Nairs "achieved an unparalleled eminence in the anthropological literature on matrilineality". [ 61 ]


In the  northeast Indian  state  Meghalaya , the  Khasi ,  Garo ,  Jaintia people  have a long tradition of a largely matrilinear system in which the youngest daughter inherits the wealth of the parents and takes over their care. [ 62 ]


In the  Minangkabau  matrilineal  clan  culture in  Indonesia , a person's  clan  name is important in their marriage and their other cultural-related events. [ 63 ] [ 64 ] [ 65 ]  Two totally unrelated people who share the same clan name can never be married because they are considered to be from the same clan mother (unless they come from distant villages). Likewise, when  Minangs  meet total strangers who share the same clan name, anywhere in Indonesia, they could theoretically expect to feel that they are distant relatives. [ 66 ]  Minang people do not have a family name or surname; neither is one's important clan name included in one's name; instead one's  given name  is the only name one has. [ 67 ]


The  Minangs  are one of the world's largest matrilineal societies/cultures/ethnic groups, with a population of 4 million in their home province  West Sumatra  in Indonesia and about 4 million elsewhere, mostly in Indonesia. The Minang people are well known within their country for their tradition of matrilineality and for their "dedication to Islam" – despite Islam being "supposedly patrilineal". [ 63 ]  This well-known accommodation, between their traditional complex of customs, called  adat , and their religion, was actually worked out to help end the Minangkabau 1821–37  Padri War . [ 63 ]


The  Minangkabau  are a prime example of a matrilineal culture with female inheritance.  With Islamic religious background of  complementarianism  and places a greater number of men than women in positions of religious and political power. Inheritance and proprietorship pass from mother to daughter.  [ 68 ]


Besides Minangkabau, several other ethnics in Indonesia are also matrilineal and have similar culture as the Minangkabau. They are Suku Melayu Bebilang, Suku Kubu and Kerinci people. Suku Melayu Bebilang live in Kota Teluk Kuantan, Kabupaten Kuantan Singingi (also known as Kuansing), Riau. They have similar culture as the Minang. Suku Kubu people live in Jambi and South Sumatera. They are around 200 000 people. Suku Kerinci people mostly live in Kabupaten Kerinci, Jambi. They are around 300 000 people  [ citation needed ]


Matrilineality was occasionally practiced by mainstream  Sorani ,  Zaza ,  Feyli ,  Gorani , and  Alevi   Kurds , though the practice was much rarer among non- Alevi   Kurmanji -speaking  Kurds . [ 69 ]


The  Mangur  clan of the, Culturally,  Mokri  tribal confederation and, politically,  Bolbas Federation [ 70 ]  is an enatic clan, meaning members of the clan can only inherit their mothers last name and are considered to be a part of the mothers family. The entire Mokri tribe may have also practiced this form of enaticy before the collapse of their emirate and its direct rule from the Iranian or Ottoman state, or perhaps the tradition started because of depopulation in the area due to raids. [ 71 ]


A culture similar to lareh bodi caniago, practiced by the  Minangkabau , is the basis for  adat perpatih  practices in the state of  Negeri Sembilan  and parts of  Malacca  as a product of West Sumatran migration into the  Malay Peninsula  in the 15th century. [ 72 ] [ 73 ]


Matrilineality among the  Muslims  and  Tamils  in the Eastern Province of  Sri Lanka  arrived from  Kerala , India via Muslim traders before 1200 CE. [ 74 ] [ 75 ] [ 76 ]  Matrilineality here includes  kinship  and social organization, inheritance and property rights. [ 77 ] [ 78 ] [ 79 ]  For example, "the mother's  dowry  property and/or house is passed on to the eldest daughter." [ 80 ] [ 81 ]  The  Sinhalese people  are the third ethnic group in eastern Sri Lanka, [ 82 ]  and have a kinship system which is "intermediate" between that of matrilineality and that of  patrilineality , [ 83 ] [ 84 ]  along with "bilateral inheritance", intermediate between matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance. [ 78 ] [ 85 ]  While the first two groups speak the  Tamil language , the third group speaks the  Sinhala language . The Tamils largely identify with  Hinduism , the Sinhalese being primarily  Buddhist . [ 86 ]  The three groups are about equal in population size. [ 87 ]


Patriarchal  social structures apply to all of Sri Lanka, but in the  Eastern Province  are mixed with the matrilineal features summarized in the paragraph above and described more completely in the following subsection: