A Tibetan Marriage

As we discussed in class there are several different forms of marriage. Marriages are very important when exploring and trying to understand a new culture. The purpose of a marriage is to regulate social mating and reproduction and the needs of children. One aspect of marriage is true across the world and that is the taboo of mating with parents, children, and siblings.

Unlike in the culture that I have grown up in where marriage is primarily categorized as serial monogamy (having one spouse at a time) Tibetan culture allows for a wide variety of marriage arrangements. In Tibet the marriages fall into three categories

1.) Monogamy (one spouse)

2.) Polygyny (The male can have two or more wives at a time)

3.)Polyandry (The female can have two or more husbands at a time)

While these forms of marriage are permissible generally Tibetan marriages fall under monogamy as well as under the patricarchial system where the hudband or the males of the family make certain final or important decisions.

Traditional Tibetan Wedding Attire

Another aspect of Tibetan marriage which I found interesting was how after being married the couple may join either the wife's family or the husband's family There is no discrimination against one side of a family over the other. I have learned that this is because the notion of the male as being the dominant figure within a marriage does not exist in Tibetan culture to the same extent that is does in my own culture. I have now learned that it is not a given that the female always gives up her name and home after being married. Evidently within the Tibetan culture the same types of relationships among men and women do not exist as they do in my own culture.