Module 1: FAMILY

(Page 22) Resource sheet 5 (cont)

Hindu

In the wedding ceremony, the bridegroom makes vows of faithfulness and promises to care for his wife and to share with her. The vows are taken while the couple walk round a sacred fire. When the bridegroom has made his vows, the bride makes only one promise - that of implicit obedience. Like Sita in the Ramayana, wives are expected to be loving, faithful, loyal and willing even to share the misfortunes of their husbands.

Jewish

The couple stand under a canopy and the groom says, 'I will be a true husband to thee. I will honour and cherish thee, I will work for thee; I will protect and support thee.'

The groom puts a ring on the bride's first finger and says, 'Behold thou art consecrated unto me by this ring according to the Law of Moses and Israel.' However, the Jewish Law recognises the marriage relationship as reciprocal. Accordingly, just as the husband agrees to be faithful to his wife and to look after her, so too is this implied as binding upon the bride when she accepts the ring from the groom and agrees, of her own free will, to enter into the marriage relationship.

Muslim

Marriage in Islam is very much the combining of two families as well as two people.

Marriage is a civil contract transacted before God, but Islam recognises no distinction between the religious and the secular. When the contract is signed, the girl is taken from her parents' house direct to her new one. There is usually music on the way. Then the man is paraded through the town to announce the new marriage.

Sikh

Sikh weddings must always take place in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib (a holy book). The groom sits in front of the book and the bride takes her place on the left hand side of the groom. The couple agree to the marriage by bowing to the Book. They are tied together with a scarf and then walk around the Book, while a special hymn is sung. This hymn not only gives advice to the couple, but stresses the importance of the union between God and man. As well as being the joining together of two people, it is the joining together of two families.