Marriage of the Achang

Between the Achang, to the dusk the boys and the girls meet to sing, it is the occasion to go knowing and some, to fall in love. These singing meetings sometimes last up to the dawn. Once the engagement is formalized, it is normal that the lovers spend a lot of time at the girl's. When the boy goes so far as to visit the girl, the family is moving back discreetly, and they remain two lovers, singing during long time. But they do not support sexual relations, if they do it they will be censured and punished.

The prematrimonial sexual relations are badly considered. If these happen and a pregnancy takes place, the woman and the children born out of the marriage will feel discriminated, therefore they prefer to abort.

The marriage the parents were usually arranging it, with the intermediation of a matchmaker. Although sometimes they were acting on request of the son, this one not always had freedom to choose spouse. The paternal uncle plays an important role in the matrimonial relations, since sometimes it has reserved some premium for his son. In other occasions a marriage happens for exchange between two families, especially to avoid excessive expenses, since in the last times, the parents of the fiancée were thinking that with the wedding of his daughter they were losing labor, and they were demanding large gifts.

The wedding is simple, with the couple coming at the dawn to the house of the husband.

When two young people is in love much, but his families do not agree in the marriage, the called "marriage takes place for abduction". In fact, the two flee together, leaving the parents before the perfect fact. It is the leakage valve to a few tidy marriages. As soon as this "marriage was realized by abduction" they were integrating perfectly into both families, although the gifts that the fiancé does double the habitual quantity.

Between the Achang the widows' transference is practised.

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