Afghanistan MarriageBy Erin Newsome

The TraditionIn the traditional Afghan culture, the man and

woman marrying rarely know each other. The process starts with the man wanting to marry a woman from an unknown family, the family will study the woman’s moral background, norms, values, beauty, previous and family affairs. If this woman is acceptable to his family, he will send one female of his family to go give her the news, she must agree, she has no choice.

Pre-EngagementOn an arranged date, along side

the kinfolk and the elders, the groom’s father will visit the bride’s home with bags of goodies, money, and clothes.

The ProposalThey will eat with the bride-to-be’s family, this

will lead up the moment for the father of the groom to make the announcement about why they are in her house. The father will announce that they are to be engaged, he also request the daughter to now accept his son “as a servant to him”.

ObligationsThe age if consent in Afghanistan is 16 for

women (15 if given permission from

guardians), and 18 for men. Although this is a set

law, women of a younger age of the consent age

are still being forced into marriage.

Afghan Weddings InfoWhen you first walk in, there is a row of

women and a row of men on each side, waiting to greet you. To show your respect, you should wear your most expensive clothing and jewelry. There is no dancing at these weddings, if anything, the men will dance on their side and the women will dance on theirs. Also there is no alcohol served. Typically and goat or pig will be sacrificed. Wedding will put some Afghan families into poverty because they spend so much on the wedding.

What Marriage MeansThere are three things that Afghan

weddings represent. One would be that the bride now belongs to the groom and his family, two she has had all of the evil spirits removed from her body, and three she is in a pure state.

The Wedding Continued

The wedding will take place in the grooms home. The bride and groom must stay separated from each other up until the very moment the groom receives his bride. Before the actual

ceremony, the men will gather together to eat, dance and, talk with one another. Any of the legal processes will go on without the bride.

After the Wedding After the wedding ceremony, the families will

have a car decorated in flowers, ribbons and more. They do this as a tradition for all Afghan weddings.

My OpinionI do not think the way the Afghans marriage

process works if very fair. It works more in favor of the groom. He is 18 or older making a 10- 16 year old girl marry him. They need to give the girls a little more time to grow up and mature before forcing them into adult-hood.

Work citied http://www.about-afghanistan.com/afghan-w

eddings.html http://afghanland.com/culture/wedding.html http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/

safety_5482.html