Why Would Anyone Be Involved In An Arranged Marriage?
If you were born in the West, such as the United States, you would be used to marriages that are chosen by the bride and groom. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy proposes to girl and they are married. Sounds normal enough, right? Well, it may surprise you that some cultures still practice arranged marriages. With arranged marriages, the parents choose the bride for their son or vice versa and the two become married. It really doesn't matter if they love each other or not, and in some cases they never even meet before hand, but this custom has been around for a long time and it is still practiced today in some places.
What Would You Do?
What would you do if your mother and father told you that you had to marry someone even though you knew nothing of that person? Wouldn't you be scared and very nervous? What if the two of you didn't mesh? What if there was no chemistry or love? How would you ever be able to go through with that arranged marriage? This is the situation that many young adults find themselves in all over the world? Why, then, is this custom practiced? What is the reason for going through with an arranged marriage?
Land, Property and Dowries
Typically, and arranged marriage happens because the two families see it as a way of increasing their property or their land. There may be a large dowry involved, which is basically a monetary offering of one family to another. Other times an arranged marriage may be arranged because they two families want to join for business reasons. Whatever the reason, the children involved really have no say over the matter. Whether they love each other or not, they are going to be married to that person so they will learn to live with that person as best they can.
Some Work and Some Don't
Some of these arranged marriages turn out well, and the couple lives happily ever after. Other times, it doesn't work out so well but the couple deals with it the best they can. It may seem foreign to many who aren't brought up that way, but this is how a lot of marriages are formed. They are chosen. They are essentially arranged marriages and it's how many couples have gotten together and continue to stay together to this day.
