As you know, marriage is in a certain way formalized relationship between a man and a woman. It can be both legal registration in the registry office, and a civil union, which is also recognized by modern legislation.
Traditions of recognition of the fact of marriage in antiquity
Probably, few have heard the expression "consummate marriage" What does this mean in the tradition of many peoples of antiquity? In past centuries, according to historians, the role of the first wedding night between a woman and a man was important. Why? Because the term "consummation" from the Latin language is translated as "completion". This moment usually meant the first sexual intercourse between husband and wife.
What does it mean to consume marriage?
The marriage process used to be divided into several different stages. In aristocratic circles, wedding unions between minor ones were widespread. Of course, we are not talking about some vulgarity of people of this circle, because even with the conclusion of such a marriage, there was no talk about sexual relations between minors. It was believed that such unions would guarantee the strengthening of the political or economic influence of childbirth clans in certain territories.
According to tradition and law, the first sexual relationship could officially take place only after the maturity of both spouses. The fact of sexual intercourse must have been recorded.
The difficulty of this moment was that few people like to demonstrate intimate relationships in public. The couple knew that tomorrow their marriage would be consummated, so they had to mentally prepare for this sacred moment. The fixing process went like this. Usually there were witnesses near the bed who actually watched this action. According to Eastern tradition, a sacred rite was generally organized with candles and guards, which closed the windows of the room, fighting the forces of "evil." The spiritual essence of the rite was that before that, husband and wife were in family status only before the state, the law, and now their status is approved by God, because they are finally physically connected into one whole. In ancient Greece, there was no need for witnesses at the time of marriage. The newlyweds on the morning after the wedding night simply showed those who fixed the consummation that were soiled with blood sheets. It was the fact of the presence of blood on the sheets that indicated that the unclean night was deprived of virginity by her husband.
The Importance of Consumation of Marriage for the Family
For the strength of family relationships, the physical side of marriage is of utmost importance. The wedding night, the union of husband and wife into one, is an event that gives hope that the marriage will be long-lasting and strong. The task of the family is that the spouses must live a long and happy family life, while raising worthy children. A weak family will not be able to fulfill such a social mission, so the lack of regular sexual relations between husband and wife, even now, in many countries is considered an important reason for divorce. There is an opinion that in such a family there is no spiritual unity, which means that this unit of society is not capable, that is, it cannot achieve the most important and high-quality social result in the form of raising truly worthy and morally strong children.
Conclusion
So, in this article we have examined a historical retrospective and the meaning of the term “marriage is consummated”. Many readers probably did not even hear such a phrase. You and I understood what consummated marriage means. Such a union is considered the marriage of a married couple, between whose members there were already sexual relations.