So Jane Austen's novels with their stories of marrying for love and happiness were cutting edge.

History was gayer than you thought

I can't be the only one who loves the idea of having just one partner for the rest of his life...

... has anyone ever married themselves?

Ghost Marriage... Hopefully no Ghost divorce.

"All marriages have one thing in common " Me: food

Marraige be like: I love you so much lets get the goverment involve

*Back then "I'll marry my boo" had totally different meaning*

The most important part of the video is the last sentence. As society's needs changes, so does marriage itself will also change. As humans change and demand their needs, marriage will also cater to human needs. This requirement is beyond religion, practicality, money or the individual pursuit of happiness. Whatever the needs of society will present, the demands of marriage will follow suit.

So, ...what exactly are conservatives trying to conserve about marriage?

Maybe I can marry a ghost. But she has to be really cute.

"Marriage has always been shaped by society" Always the greatest control on things has been in hands of society

Marriage = Who get's your stuff when you die.

This shoots down the 'traditional marriage' adherents.

A lot of Indigenous cultures' marriages were based around love and, and were part of the entire community. The Abenaki are a great example of this.

You are telling me that it's normal in some cultures for one to marry a ghost but not a living person because he's of same gender😂 society's messed up!

Thank you, TedED, for sharing this! It's so important that people realize how the institution of marriage is deeply rooted in culture-specific context and not exclusively the domain of one religion/philosophical perspective to define.

"Tis my wife." "I can't see her." "Because anything essential is invisible to the eye."

You didn't mention wacky modern examples of marriage, such as men marrying dogs, electronics, or other non-human objects.

Also, fun fact! Brides starting wearing white specifically in weddings after Queen Victoria pupularized it by wearing white on her wedding, which i found very interesting

King Solomon from the Bible had 700 wives and 300 concubines , so people who say marriage is between 2 people aren't always right

Me, an aromantic asexual who has no interest in marrying platonically watching this video: ｅｄｕｃａｓｈｕｎ

You know, sometimes I seriously wonder why the HELL do people think/assume that some people are "gay" because they are super close to a friend who is of the same gender?? It's like somehow now people just can't think that people can be in a really close relationship even without being in a romantic or sexual relationship with the someone of the sex! I am not from an English speaking country, and was in a English debate camp, and I once complimented my teammate for being cute, which I meant things like her polite and naive nature combined with wit.(and back then I didn't really knew of the LGBT things too) The teammate was from the same country as me, so she knew what I was talking about, and thanked me and called me "pretty," but then some other kids who lived in America just started to blurt out that we were lesbian because I called her "cute," and she called me "pretty." And we were both like "WTH are you talking about?"

I don't care what anybody says, marriage is between men and ghost!!

When conservatives talk about "preserving the institution of marriage", what are they really talking about?

I know some evangelicals that are definitely not going to like this.

"As, a society's structure, values and goals change over time, the definition of marriage shall change along with it." Brilliantly summarised.

So did no one notice William and Kate at 3:17? Or at least I think it's them.

orthodox has brother making?... oh... no,on,no, it isn't sexual! its just making your best friend your brother! its a bromance on higher level!

Oh Ghost husband, you’re such a great listener 😁

"Brother Making" never involved sex or romance. The name says it all, it was about brotherly partnership.

i think that marrage has become a joke for some people getting married for 73 days to 7 months

Think of this when you’re insecure or feel bad about yourself- *your present face is the face that you fell in love with, in your past life* it’s a Japanese legend...I think it’s beautiful

I've watched loads of ted ed, and I just want to say.. Alex Gendler is a genius.

Funny, I just watched the history of slavery and this was one of the suggestions. Ted-ed is trying to tell us something.

'' Marriage has always been shaped by society . and as a society structure, values and goals change over time . its ideas about marriage will continue to change along with them ''.... that is so true

I'm from Sudan, and i never knew thet some of us marry ghosts. 😂💔

"One wife of all brothers" concept. definitely came from mahabharat 😂🤦

I'm not a history EXPERT, but even I know that things like the Adelphopoiesis aren't "same sex marriage." It's something more akin to a holy oath of brotherhood and friendship. Adelphopoiesis is by use, intention, and meaning not meant to be a "same sex marriage/union" we know of now.

Imagine being so in love that you get the law involved, this is SCARY!!

Comments section on this video are a riot. But learned some stuff. I like learning stuff.

I have ALWAYS been thinking about this. Thank you for enlightening me

The first guy to get married in the modern world must've thought: I love you so much that I'm gonna get the government invovled so that you can never leave me

Am I the only one that wouldn't mind getting married, but definitely don't want children?

Great vid, clearly explained and very good animation too. Well done!!

And there are cultures that do NOT have marriage concept :)

Statistically, modern marriage, which is usually based on love, is less successful than marriages based on economics. I don't think people love each other any less or any more than ever before. I think that the fact that marriages are no more than a whim, an expectation, or a confession of love and devotion, make them easier to give up on than before. The minute that things go south, it is easy to cut ties. It's all a matter of perspective. Marry or don't...the joys and the issues are the same.

I like to tell people that when it comes to marriage, form meets function. If your marriage is primarily romantic and emotional in purpose, any arrangement will do. Marry whoever or whatever you love. If you have something higher in mind (hopefully in addition to romance), then certain prerequisites must be met. I'm pretty happy to live in a nation that is free enough, and prosperous enough to have this debate; even if I don't agree with every opinion placed on the table.

When conservatives say we need to defend traditional marriage send them this

Why is married life unhappy? It's common in for one person to feel like they're missing out on because they're “tied down” to someone or feel like they were rushed and pressured into before they were ready. ... If this sounds like you, tell your partner how you're feeling and do what you need to in order to feel happy.

"To marry means to halve one's rights and double one's duties" Arthur Schopenhauer

A the enlightenment. Such an interesting era that changed so much, marriage included. Awesome video!

Ghost Marriage sounds awesome but probably isn't

I’ve been craving for marriage and having my own children for years. The more I want it, the more hurtful will be

Thanks for not disappointing me , i want to thank you for making this video

2017: Men can now marry anime characters via VR

to me marriage is an recognition of the bond shared between the interaction of two people (or more) bestowed with legal and social entitlements. "A partnership". Marriage as an mean to accomplish lineage and status "family duties" is an mean to an end

I heard a lot. SOmeone marrying a Love + 3DS, and even married their body pillow. But ghost marriages, for some reason, surprised me a bit.

I LOVE ted-ed it have definitely changed the idea of what marriage is

The Video is very misleading. Adelfopoiesis or 'brother-making' was not a marriage and wasn't even done for homosexuals. Married and heterosexual people could do it without any problem. The reason why existed is because the concept of brotherhood was more broader than today and a lot of alliances and friendships involved in some cultures a ceremony of Brother-making, in some cases having something to do with sharing each others blood. Adelfopoiesis was the way of christianizing this practices which dissappeared over time as the Adelfopoiesis did. Althrough there are some Churches in the East who still perfom this kind of ceremonies. The ritual specifically assures that the ones doing it are doing so because of their love-as-friendship and not because of some kind of sexual love. That doesn't assure that all people who did it did't have sexual relations between them, we won't never know that. What we now is that the purpouse of the ceremony was not to do a 'homosexual marriage'. All of this comes from Boswell's misiterpretations of the ceremony by judging ancient doings by modern standards and concepts. Back then there didn't even exist 'homosexuals' as we understand today. Being 'homosexual' wasn't an identity. No one really cared if you had attraction to people of the same sex unless you had sexual relations with them. P.D: The Spanish Gay-Marriage cited in the video was not a marriage but an Adelfopoiesis.

Brilliant video!

This book is actually transformative if you bother to spend the effort reading learning and understanding the institution of marriage.

Thanks for the colors at the end tedx. Doth you not know we are all watching this at 1am on a work/school night :/

fantastic video!

Bang goes traditional marriage.

This video has many good points. Marriage means different things to different people and cultures. There seems to be a few common themes, mostly bonding, land, inheriting, procreation, commitment, and probably some others. I always thought marriage was a mix of true love and the prospect of a family if possible. If two people love each other in a special way, why not seal the deal? True love is there for a reason after all. Procreation and bringing new humans into this world is very important; I'd argue that if two people want to start a family and contribute to the next generation of future humans, they should truly love each other and want to commit to the massive project that is raising a child... it is very hard but still possible for a single parent to raise a child by themselves so two people would be ideal. The two people should support each other and be loyal no matter what comes at them. Unfortunately, this does not happen all the time... there is a reason why cheating with someone else is bad in most western world societies, but ideally the partners in marriage should truly love being married and love each other. Marriage is usually a beautiful thing, though sometimes two people aren't meant for eachother. It seems like throughout cultures, marriage is for procreation and or to make the love between two people official. Of course not everyone who gets married wants to or is able to start a family, but maybe that's a good thing at this point considering how big the population of the world is right now. Either way I'd argue that the true point of marriage is for true love and happiness.

what a great video! keep it up

What bothers me the most is how, even in the most progressive societies/countries nowadays, getting married grants you so much more privilege than if you're in a union that's not legally defined or if it's even more mildly defined like a domestic partnership. For example, when I read about emigrating to another country (one of my main occupations lately, as I'm trying to at least encourage myself to even think of it since it seems too unrealistic for me right now, but I can't stand living/existing in my home country anymore, and it seems the only possible solution is working on it like crazy for some time before I even apply for a residence), I see everywhere the mention how marriage makes everything 100x easier. I have a partner, but we're not married legally, even though we live together. I know one example of his friend needing to marry his partner to get something from the government, and it's a well-known fact how so many people from my country even managed to emigrate to better countries only via marriage to a citizen of the country they moved into. It feels so backward and discriminating. People really are denied so many things just because they are single, still in this day and age.

In France we have a very funny show called "Kaamelott". One of the many characters once said: "As me you are married, so You know that monstrosity can take very diverse forms." That sounds Perfect.

0:13 the ones who wishes for stability in life

thanks for telling us the history of marriage

So glad I saw this.

I've also heard of marriage I believe normally only in Asian culture where some men marry in to the brides family and take her name becoming the family's male heir and taking on the duties of the family as if he were born in the family. I've also heard that it's still done today but for some different reasons and that it's normally only the first daughter who does this. There are also couples who start there own family by changing there last names to a completely new one, such as if Gina White married Eric Grayson but both became Mr and Mrs. Reddington. This is normally the couple either wanting to get away from their family's due to problem's or they both think it's fun and a fresh start.

Very interesting.

Literally humanity's oldest tradition.

simple and well explained

Absolutely fantastic video. I will be showing this to anyone who insists that marriage has always been between one man and one woman.

I wish I could marry a whole family of brothers.

Fascinating. Thanks!

❤️❤️❤️ This vid is so enlightening.

Marriage... proof that love is very, very conditional...

Marriage is a 3 ring circus. First there's the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, then suffering.

The animation is so over the top I legitimately had to restart the video more than five times before I got through a minute of it.

m a sociology student this makes it easy to understand the society and the cocept of marriage it being a social institution😊

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that only stereo-typically Muslim people are portrayed as polygamous? Polygamy has appeared in cultures all around the world, including China and European cultures (i.e. early Mormonism, the many mistresses of kings).

I would add something to love and marriage relation. Muslims and many other religions and cultures acknowledged love as a part of marriage more than a thousand of years ago. Just it wasn't necessary for marriage and it was supposed to develop in marriage or during courting. It is not like all men hated their wives back a thousand years ago.

Well ted-ed should be the highest rated channel in the world 💫❣️

Help me answer 3 questions: 1.Explain how a tribal alliance through marriage might work to prevent conflict between two groups. 2. Why would the authorities in an agricultural society have official laws governing marriage? 3.What are some of the social problems that allowing multiple simultaneous marriages could create?

Not entirely accurate. Though happiness and love were not key consideration in making marriages, they did occur, and they were considered "good". There are artifacts (of love poems shared between spouses) from almost all ancient cultures (depends on if they had writing/if the writing survived). Similarly, even ancient myths idealize love in marriage, showing people were aware of the concept and wanted it.

I am not getting married ever... and I love being single :)

GREAT video!

i love this channel.makes me smarter

Marriage as a social institution makes a lot of sense.

Highlights the fallacious appeal to tradition argument from those against same sex marriage today.

Amazing conclusion.

When I was a kid a teacher of mine says you dont choose who you marry your family do that was in early 2000 , and sometimes you hear old people saying they were 14 or even younger when they get 1st pregnant from their husband and have many children and I became a bit curious and made a little research that choosing someone you love to marry seems only became popular in the mid to late 19th century. and its weird that almost all parts of the world have the same tradition before.

Amazing video, really open the mind to the reality that marriage was never a constant.

Was it just me, or did the animations in this video go by really fast? I had to keep pausing it to actually see what the pictures were.

The history of that thing I'll never get.

This is a very interesting video!!