Marriage - Beautiful Relationship

Marriage is a legally recognised and socially accepted union, typically between a man and a woman, that is governed by laws, rules, traditions, beliefs, and attitudes that outline the partners' obligations and grant status to their offspring (if any). The many fundamental social and personal functions that marriage provides structure for, including sexual gratification and regulation, the division of labour between the sexes, economic production and consumption, and the satisfaction of personal needs for affection, status, and companionship, are what give marriage its universality across different societies and cultures. Procreation, child care, schooling, socialisation, and lineage regulation are perhaps its three most important functions. Marriage has existed in many different ways over the years. (See tree marriage, polyandry, polygamy, swap marriage, and group marriage. Refer to common-law marriage as well.

By the 21st century, marriage in Western nations had started to alter, especially in terms of the value of procreation and the accessibility of divorce. The Netherlands was the first nation to legalise same-sex unions in 2000; the legislation took effect on April 1, 2001. Numerous other nations followed suit in the years that followed, including Canada (2005), France (2013), the United States (2015), and Germany (2017). Additionally, some nations gave benefits and responsibilities to same-sex couples through registered partnerships or civil unions, two words that had different meanings depending on the situation.

According to the biological evolutionary scale, the longer the offspring is reliant on its mother for survival from the time of birth until maturity, the more complex the species. The highest on the evolutionary food chain, humans take the longest of any animal to mature. Human parents now have greater responsibilities for raising their children, and marriage has historically been thought of as the institution best equipped to carry out these parental obligations.

All human societies, both past and present, have been discovered to practise marriage in some capacity. The elaborate and intricate laws and rituals that encircle it serve as a reminder of its significance. Some universals do apply, despite the fact that these rules and rituals are as diverse and numerous as human social and cultural organisations.

The primary legal purpose of marriage is to protect the rights of the partners with regard to one another as well as to protect the rights of children and establish their relationships within a society. In the past, marriage has given the offspring a legitimate status that entitles them to the various rights outlined by the customs of that society, including the right to inherit. In the majority of societies, marriage also established the acceptable social relationships that could be chosen as prospective spouses for the children.

Up until the 20th century, choosing to get married was not always an option. Although romantic love between spouses became associated with marriage in Western societies (as the works of authors like Henry James and Edith Wharton testify), in most Western cultures, romantic love was not the primary reason for matrimony and one's marriage partner was carefully selected.

The oldest societal restriction on marriage is endogamy, which is the custom of marrying someone who belongs to the same tribe or social group as you. Endogamous marriage is a natural outcome when there are few channels of communication with outside organisations. In some cultures, there are still significant cultural pressures to marry within one's social, economic, and ethnic group.

Exogamy, the practise of getting married outside of your group, is prevalent in societies with the most complicated kinship structures because it prevents large groups of people who may share an ancestor from getting married.

Marriages are typically organised by the family in societies where the large, or extended, family remains the fundamental unit. The idea is that love between the partners blossoms after marriage, and consideration is given to the socioeconomic benefits that the union will bring to the broader family. Young adults typically select their partners on their own in cultures where the nuclear family is the norm. Less consideration is typically given to the socioeconomic elements of the match because it is believed that love precedes (and determines) marriage.