As you know, marriage is a certain way formalized relationship between a man and a woman. This can be both legal registration in the registry office, and a civil union, which is also recognized by modern legislation.
Traditions of recognition of the fact of marriage in antiquity
Probably few people have heard the expression "marriage is consummated" What does this mean in the tradition of many peoples of antiquity? In past centuries, according to historians, the role of the wedding night between a woman and a man was important. Why? Because the term "consummation" from the Latin language is translated as "completion". This moment usually meant the first sexual intercourse between husband and wife.
What does it mean to consummate marriage?
The marriage process used to be divided into several different stages. In aristocratic circles, marriage unions between minors were common. Of course, we are not talking about some kind of vulgarity of people of this circle, because even if such a marriage was concluded, there was no talk of sexual relations between minors. It was believed that such unions would guarantee the strengthening of the political or economic influence of the childbirthcertain territories.
According to tradition and legislation, the first sexual relations could officially take place only after the coming of age of both spouses. The fact of sexual intercourse must have been recorded.
The difficulty of this moment was that few people like to demonstrate intimate relationships in public. The couple knew that tomorrow their marriage would be consummated, so they had to mentally prepare for this sacred moment. The fixing process went like this. Usually there were witnesses near the bed who actually watched this action. According to Eastern tradition, a sacred rite was generally organized with candles and guards, which closed the windows of the room, fighting the forces of "evil". The spiritual essence of the rite was that before that, the husband and wife were in the status of a family only before the state, the law, and now their status is approved by God, because they are finally physically united into one. In ancient Greece, it was not necessary to have witnesses during the consummation of a marriage. The newlyweds on the morning after the wedding night simply showed those who recorded the consummation the sheets stained with blood. It was the fact of the presence of blood on the sheets that said that the bride was deprived of her virginity by her husband tonight.
The importance of consummation of marriage for the family
For the strength of family relationships, the physical side of marriage is of great importance. The first wedding night, the unity of husband and wife into one whole is an event that gives hopethat the marriage will be long-lasting and strong. The task of the family is that the spouses should live a long and happy family life, while raising worthy children. A weak family will not be able to fulfill such a social mission, so the lack of regular sexual relations between husband and wife is even now considered an important reason for divorce in many countries. There is an opinion that there is no spiritual unity in such a family, which means that this unit of society is not capable, that is, it cannot achieve the most important and high-quality social result in the form of raising truly worthy and morally strong children.
Conclusion
So, in this article we have examined the historical retrospective and the meaning of the concept "marriage is consummated". Many readers probably have not even heard such a phrase. You and I understand what a consummated marriage means. Such a union is the marriage of a married couple, between whose members there have already been sexual relations.
