The world is so great that there are many unknown customs in the long history of mankind. After years of precipitation, some of these customs have been removed from the stage of history, while others have been preserved.
For example, in feudal society and even in some underdeveloped countries, still retains polygamy, and polygamy , but have you heard of the custom of "marrying a wife" in women? A woman’s “marriage” is not a fabrication, but a fact.
In African country Sudan , there is a Nuer people, and some tribes still retain the custom of women to "marry their wives".
How to marry a woman, most people must have such questions. And if this tribe has always retained the custom of women marrying, how did it continue?
In fact, it should be said that not all women in the tribe are qualified to marry, and women marry to continue the family’s incense? Everyone was already full of question marks when they saw this, but don’t worry, we will come one by one.
Nur people
Sultan is a country in eastern Africa, located at the junction of Arabia and Black Africa. It can be said that there are many cultural and ethnic groups here.
There are about 600 races in Sudan, and among these numerous ethnic cultures, one race has been going on for four or five thousand years.
It is said that civilization has only two results, either evolution or death. However, there is a civilization of such a race that has been completely preserved from generation to generation and has not been changed - they are the Nur people.
As early as the book Ancient Egyptian had recorded the Nur people. It can be said that Nur people is a living fossil of African humanities. Even now people can truly see the lifestyles of Nur people thousands of years ago.
If you want to know why a tradition of marrying a wife was formed, you must first start with the culture of the Nuer people.
Nur people live in the southeast of Sudan, where the temperature is high throughout the year and people have a single living structure. The Nur people have been mainly animal husbandry for generations, and simply put it as herding cattle, so cows are the most important thing in life for the Nur people.
The Nur people will never kill cows casually, nor will they kill cows for the sake of eating meat. This is also one of the customs passed down from generation to generation by the Nur people.
You should know that the hot environment can also affect people's personality, so the Nuer people are more likely to be excited, like to sing and dance, are very optimistic and have simple thoughts.
So what the Nur people recognize is generally difficult to change, just like the cow is the whole of life for the Nur people. The only thing that the Nours are interested in is the matter related to the cow.
Therefore, there is such a saying among the Nur people that even smart Arab merchants find it difficult to make money from the Nur people because they are not interested in any product, and the only thing they are interested in is the cow.
The character of the Nur people also determines their inheritance of culture and customs. For thousands of years, they have adhered to their unique cultural customs.
Nur people’s values
The most important one among the values of the Nur people is to maintain the integrity of the family. The Nur people survived from generation to generation according to their patriarchal line, so there must be males in this family to inherit the family business so that the family's industry can be passed down from generation to generation. It seems that no matter where people are, it is particularly important to pass on the family line.
But you should know that the natural environment in Sudan is very harsh, whether in ancient times or modern times, and people lack clothes and wear, so the food and property people obtain are very precious, which determines people's determination to protect their property.
The Nur people also think the same way, they want the family business they earn to have successors.
Nur people are also brave and warlike nations. They rely on war to expand their territory and clans.
But the biggest disadvantage of war is the casualties of people, and the survival rate of children was not high at that time, so people became the core.
people are the core of every family, and the family is the foundation of clan development, so for the clan, we must continue the incense.
Based on the above two reasons, continuous offspring has become the task that the Nuer people value the most. The Nuers also formulated their unique concept of marriage for this purpose.
Unique concept of marriage
Boys can get married at the age of 15 and girls can get married at the age of 10. From the age we can see how much the Nour people value the reproduction and reproduction of the population.
If a man falls in love with a woman, he will bring a cow to propose marriage. If the woman’s parents accept the cow, it means that the daughter has no relationship with her parents, and she will be the man’s person from now on. The Niu can be said to have witnessed the union of both sides.
The primary task for newlyweds is to have children, and of course there are cases where wives cannot have sons. At this time, the man will marry another wife if financially permits until he gives birth to a son.
Therefore, polygamous marriage system is also prevalent among the Nuer people.
It can be seen that the marriage system of the Nur people has always been expanding their clan power and continuing their family incense to serve them, so this requires that the marriage system meets the needs of the Nur people to grow up.
For example, what should I do if my newly married husband dies in the war and he has no children to continue the incense?
In order to solve this practical problem, the Nur people formulated their second marriage code.
If a man dies without descendants, his brother will marry the man's widow and give birth to the first boy to the man's name.
What if a man doesn’t have brothers? Then we have to choose a relative closest to him to marry the man's wife, and then give birth to the child and add it to the man's name.
Another situation is that when the couple had no children, both of them died, which means that no one could give birth to children for this man.
At this time, the elders in the clan should select a boy from the man's relatives to adopt him in the man's name, inherit the man's inheritance and cut off relations with his biological parents forever.
In addition to the above two cases, there is another more extreme case. That is, in a family, there are no husbands, sons and relatives, and only the wife is left. What should I do?
Don’t worry, the simple-minded Nuer people still have a way, and they will definitely find a way to help this man’s family retain the incense.
At this time, the only woman in the family can "marry and have children" and continue to continue the incense for her husband's family.
First, the elders in the family will help the woman choose a wife, and the two will hold a formal wedding to get married. In order not to have ambiguity, the woman who marryes will be called the "husband" and the other woman will be called the wife.
No one in the Nur tribe will look at the couple with a strange look. On the contrary, everyone will pick up hand drum and dance enthusiastic dance to bless the new couple.
In the culture of the Nur people, the husband is naturally the parents, so after becoming a "husband", the woman also has the same status. The wife should also call her "husband", and she can also control her wife.
Power and obligation coexist. After a woman becomes a husband, she must assume the responsibility of making money to support her family and protecting her wife and children. Similarly, neighbors will also respect the "husband"'s resolutions particularly.
But although this couple is called "couple and wife", they are actually unable to give birth to life. So how can such a marriage continue to be popular with the ex-husband?
In fact, on the wedding, the elders in the clan will designate a man of the same age as their wife to have sex with their wife, and the boy they gave birth to is classified as the "husband".
If they don’t give birth to a boy, it doesn’t count, so the relationship between the wife and the designated man is not declared to end until the moment they give birth to the boy.
After this born boy will continue to continue this family and make contributions to strengthening the clan.Of course, boys will also inherit the family business, and the most important thing in the family business is their cattle.
In fact, it can be said that this born boy has nothing to do with this "husband" in terms of blood, but the Nur people do not care much about blood.
On the contrary, they believe that the continuation of the family is the most important, so letting the family grow and sprinkle is what they should care about the most.
We now seem to the Nuer people’s marriage concept that cannot be integrated with our three views, but in the social environment and context at that time, this was the most reasonable system for them.
In fact, the custom of marrying a widow of a brother mentioned above has also been popular in many parts of the world.
mentioned in " Bible ":
"If a brother lives together, if one dies and has no son, the wife of a dead person cannot marry an outsider. Her husband's brother should do his duty as a brother, marry her as a wife, and have sex with her. The eldest son of a woman's life will be under the name of a dead brother."
So it can be seen that in the society at that time, the continuation of the family was the most important. And if there is anyone in Israel who is unwilling to do his duty for his brothers, he will be despised by the entire family.
You can imagine how important this concept of marriage was at that time!
The British royal family also had a similar situation. The British king Henry VIII also married a widowed sister-in-law, and later wanted to divorce but was rejected by the pope.
Of course, the King of England is not forced by life, but it is also because of the chain of interests that have to do so.
In addition to foreign countries, nomadic peoples in ancient my country also had a similar marriage system, which is called "recruiting marriage". The most famous one is Wang Zhaojun .
When Wang Zhaojun's husband died, she married her concubine's son. At that time, Wang Zhaojun wrote a letter to request to return to the court, but Emperor Cheng ordered him to follow the Hu court.
Wang Zhaojun can be said to have married a father and son. This is unacceptable in the Han tradition, but it is normal in the customs of the Hu people.
And we can also see that among many of the later princesses, if their husbands die, they are also brothers who marry their husbands one after another.
It is interesting that the custom of taking over marriage also occurs in the nomadic peoples in northern my country. This is also related to the human character of the nomadic people. They are bold and care less about the inheritance and inheritance within the family. In short, it is necessary to protect the family and property.
However, this custom is definitely gone in our country now, because with the development and progress of society, human civilization is also progressing and social resources have become diversified. Similarly, people will no longer be limited to a narrow space of thinking.
So many legacy customs have disappeared. However, this custom of the Sultannuer tribe still exists and has been preserved intact. This is due to the low local economic and cultural level.
Sultan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and of course their living conditions have not changed much compared to before.
Although the whole world is developing, the living standards of local people are still below the food and clothing line. At this time, no one cares about ethics, they care more about survival and continuation. In a sense,
exists, that is, has some truth.
