Articles avec le tag ‘world’
So you want to get married ?
In this constantly expanding universe of space and information people around the world have more opportunities to take advantage of the entire globe around them. Getting married anywhere in the world is one of these many perks that we can now easily or not so easily take advantage of. Every country has different laws, different customs, and different practices. But ladies and gentlemen, future brides and grooms, where is the right place for you? Luckily Gullivearth is back on the trail again, sniffing out the best places to get your life long ties tied on right and tight. This article can be used just for fun or as an index of cultural similarity and dissimilarity. Maybe now, next time you’re chatting or mailing a guy/girl on eharmony/match/friendfinder.com you’ll really consider the country their coming from significant.
Age limits are an interesting topic highly debated between societal standards. If you don’t make the cut you are doomed to forever receive downward sloping lip formations the rest of your life, unless of course you’re a character out of the Old Testament or other practicing religions, then it’s all good. The modern world typically demands a legal age of 18, and everything younger is deemed as strange or even repulsive, however in the Islam tradition, girls only need to be nine years old before they “walk down (or possibly skip with a lollipop through) the isle.” Judaism says that a boy can marry when he is 13 so long as he has the hair down there to prove he’s ready. Which goes to show the age old saying: “If there’s grass on the field, then let’s play ball” is probably a reference to ancient Herbrew scripture.
The typical Islam household
However, much to the chagrin of extreme religious purists and pedophiles alike, marriage at such a young age isn’t legal in any government or state. Were guessing the constitution struck this right off their freedom of religion amendment somewhere between having multiple wives and burning your daughter in the name of the Lord (Leviticus 21:9) (Judges 11:29-40).
It is also interesting to note that in many societies, legal age is commonly younger for females than males, but never the other way around. For example, in Madagascar you must be 17 to marry but only 14 if you’re female. In India you must be 21 or only 18 if you’re a female. In Czech Republic you must be 18 or 16 if you’re a pregnant female. The youngest we found was in South Africa where traditional marriages can be performed for boys/men at the age of 14 and girls/women at the age of 12. We’re going to guess this has something to do with average biological maturation processes in which girls blossom faster than guys. Although, getting knocked up without religious approval also probably has something to do with it. For example, in the US state Pennsylvania. Marriage can be done at 18 legally or at 16 with court approval, but even at 14 if the female is pregnant. Mexico also accepts the age of 14 if the female is pregnant.
No laws have yet been created for this scenario
Interestingly enough, in the Govenator’s Golden state, there is no legal age limit so long as the court approves of the marriage. However nothing in California has been approved at an age younger than anywhere else in the world yet.
Same sex marriage has become one of the most highly debated civil rights issues in the modern era. In the past, if the government declared it illegal then same sex couples would just have to live with it. But now they can move to the Netherlands, Belgium, 3 US States (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa), Canada, Spain, Norway, Sweden, or South Africa, where the law is exactly the same for same sex marriages as they are for opposite sex marriages. (Thanks Wikipedia). In 1989, Denmark became the first country of the modern world to legalize gay marriage in the form of “registered partnership.” 30 countries in total have now recognized gay’s to legally have the ability to have “civil unions” rather than marriage. We’re not sure what the difference is between civil unions and marriage, other than the name for it, even after pouring over various Wikipedia articles. Also, biologically speaking, the taboo and disgust for same sex intercourse in most males while approval for females is baffling. There is likely a subtle connection between marriage law and the thought of intercourse with another dude that keeps these laws in place. Were also not sure that why in the ancient world it was totally cool and normal to learn sexual technique from an older same sex individual and now it’s taboo. In fact Ancient Greek citizens used to be made fun of for not being willing to sexually experiment with the same sex, much like gays are ridiculed today.
Brutus, don’t be such a flaming hetero
…and kiss me
Paging all Polygamists… You don’t have to be fundamentally Mormon to practice this multiple marriage fiasco. Most polygamy marriages can be found in Africa. In Senegal, it’s nearly standard: 47 percent of marriages there are polygamous. We’re still waiting for it to be legalized in the US just for the hilarious comedy hijinks that could ensue via sitcom format, something that has yet to be exploited. And yes we’re speaking to you, shrewd businessmen of the world.
Marriage and citizenship are also often cited as perks to foreign marriages. This is the reason why so many foreigners come to America looking for a new life and love. It’s also the reason why buying a mail order Russian bride seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Citizenship does not come from getting married anywhere, but only certain countries, namely the US. The US is possibly the most fast and loose with their rigmarole of citizenship laws. Marriage for a green card is more common than the law would like to think. They say they check, but no one has ever seen the law in practice besides in that one Sandra bullock and Ryan Reynolds movie “The Proposal” where the guy threatens to fine them to jail time and fines equivalent to somewhere between GTA and Murder. In practice, it’s only punished about as harshly as downloading music. Lots of big words are thrown around, but no one ever actually sees the strong arm of the law. Hell, the US even has a lottery that just gives away 50,000 green cards a year. The only thing of near equivalence to marriage for citizenship can be found in the UK and Ireland, where getting married only helps speed along the citizenship process from 5 to 3 years of living. We also assume you could gain citizenship through marriage in one of those head hunting tribes of Papa New Guinea, if that floats your boat.
Christmas around the world
You might think that your way of celebrating Christmas is the way but every country and culture has its own little twist. Here at Gullivearth we would like to present to you an alternative way to celebrate that same merry Holiday on the 25th of December. We’ve seen that international students can be readily accepting of new cultures and traditions, popular examples include: learning how to say, “Cheers!” in as many languages as possible, trying a new food (however disgusting it might seem at first), taking transportation on the back of an animal, dancing with the locals, attempting to use a strange and foreign toilet, etc. The culture shock might seem overwhelming at first but an experienced traveller will tell you that’s half of the fun. So let’s see how exotic you guys can make your Christmas this year and bring some of that international holly jolly into your life. You may never look at Christmas the same way again.
The US Christmas: Put up the lights, hang some stockings, find a Christmas tree, have your children write letters to Santa Claus, make a snow Angel (if snow is available), carol in the streets, find out who’s naughty or nice, drink eggnog (a thick mixture of milk, sugar, cream, eggs, and cinnamon often spiked with alcohol *rhum or southern comfort), give gifts, etc. Most of these acts are pretty comparable among most western countries. In beach towns in California you’ll find Santa Claus wearing swim trunks, riding the surf, and probably using vernacular such as any variation of dude and bro, awesome, or the ever enthusiastic but less expressive « hell yeah! »
Latvian Christmas: They wear some of the most bizarre costumes ever. They call it Mumming when they wear anything ranging from a walking talking haystack to a goat head to a living corpse.
Japanese Christmas: Because Christianity is a minority religion here, Christmas is more of a commercialized holiday than anything else. Although, it is the time for children to receive presents from « Hotei-osho », a benevolent Buddhist monk. This is also a holiday for lovers, much like Valentine ’s Day for the US. Men commonly buy flowers and teddy bears for their girlfriends during Christmas. That’s sweet. Although it seems the Santa Claus concept didn’t escape Japanese anime writers from protraying him like a glowy eyed dark skinned hulk of a saint.
Mexican Christmas: What may seem like the best option so far: They celebrate the holiday from the 12th of December to the 6th of January. Kids receive their gifts at the end on January 6th, the epiphany, from the 3 wise men, similar to how the three men brought gifts to baby Jesus. Christmas Eve is celebrated with fireworks and everyone banging pots, shouting, whistling, ringing bells, etc. Mexican celebration food features Tamales, Atole, and Menudos.
Greek Christmas: They are starting to decorate small and large Christmas boats instead of trees. Some areas precede Christmas by fasting while everyone else celebrates it by feasting.
Belgian Christmas: They have two Santa Claus figures, St. Nicholas and Pere Noel. While St. Nicholas checks up on what all the kids are doing by monitoring their behaviour during the month of December. Pere Noel sits in the North Pole and sorts through the wish lists. They are essentially the good cop bad cop duo of Christmas.
Estonian Christmas: It sounds like a foreign Christmas over here. They celebrate the sacred holiday by bringing home “Christmas straw,” fortune telling, and predicting the next year’s harvest and weather. And of course there is the traditional Christmas day sauna, a great opportunity to mingle with your relatives, in the nude!
That’s it for your crazy Christmas traditions. Go out there and have a wild and new experimental time. Or invent some new traditions of your own. We hope you’ve been inspired. We sure have, and can’t wait to row in our shiny Christmas ships, stuff ourselves with hot tamales, and prance around the sauna wearing nothing but our haystack helmets. Merry Christmas everyone!
