ABSTRACT
Most known societies have some form of legal, religious or cultural recognition of intimate partnerships that equates with the term of ‘marriage’. This is most clearly seen in wedding ceremonies, common to most religions, in which partners make public statements about their agreement to marry. Weddings have enormous personal significance, many brides keep their wedding dress for the rest of their lives. Also important here is the question of the legality of marriage; in the West, bigamy or taking multiple spouses is illegal and inter-racial marriage was, until recently, illegal in South Africa. It is tempting to believe that Western notions of monogamous romantic love and free mate selection are gaining ground. Murdock found that 80 per cent of the World Ethnographic Sample permitted polygamy where a husband (polygyny) or wife (polyandry) is permitted more than one spouse (Giddens, 1989, p. 386). In most societies world-wide, marriage is arranged by kin rather than the bride and groom. This is not to say that romantic love does not exist in such societies but that it has a different role and importance.
