Anthropology 1200: marriage in Saudi Arabia

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

marriage in Saudi Arabia

As most of non-Saudi you might ask your self, how we get married if we can’t touch or even see foreign girls? Also we have a separate gender school. Boys study in different school than girls do from the first grade in the elementary school. Girls in the mall or shops cover their body and their face. How Saudis choose their wife? There is no other allowed relationship between boys and girls except the marriage. There are no girlfriends or boyfriends relationships. So if Saudi wants to get married, first you have to till your mother, sister or other relative women with you. The women who will go-between should know by asking him what kind of women he likes, and all the details about the girl that he want. Then this woman looks up a girl for him. If she found the closest girls to his requests, and he accept her, then his father goes to the girl’s father to engage her to him. Now he can see her and talk to her. The engagement period is about 6 months to more than a year. This period let each other know something about them. If they are satisfy of each other, the wedding will be arranged, and the dowry from the man will be given to the girl.

In the wedding, there are tow celebration will take place, one for men and the other for women. The celebration starts from afternoon where the bride goes with her family and friends to but Hannah in their hands and legs. Also she prepares for the night where is the wedding. The men go with the boy to a spring for swimming and part of them prepare the dinner. At night, all men members of the family and friends gather and sing, and the same thing for the women in different place. Then the dinner is served. After that, the man goes to the bride in the women place after all the women go out except the relative of the man. They stay with their family a while then go to their house.

When the husband goes to a spring with his friends