Some aspects of changing marriage in rural Iran: The case of Kalardasht, a district in northern provinces

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the availability of wage labor on some aspects of marriage in Kalardast a rural area in northern Iran. It demonstrates how and to what extent traditional ceremonies and the system of transactions at marriage have been modified in recent years under the influence of a cash economy primarily as a result of the ability of young men to provide for their marriage and thus free themselves from their fathers households. All aspects of marriage in these 4 villages are embedded in the wider kinship system. The responsibilities for arranging celebrating and sustaining marriage involves the wider kin group; the symbolic rituals of marriage are group rather than individual-oriented. However change has brought about a process of individuation culminating in the emergence of the individual from the clan group. At present both the traditional and modified systems of selecting spouses and of conducting marriage ceremonies co-exist. While the new trends are gaining acceptance and are practiced in Rudbarak the traditional marriage rituals remain intact in the 3 isolated villages. At the root of the change lies the economic autonomy of young men who in the traditional setting were dependent on their fathers household and had less contact with urban centers. The changes which have occurred in the sphere of marriage transactions offer the young men a much greater degree of independence from their fathers and kin groups. The increased importance of mahr which does not involve any immediate exchange of wealth and the possibility of replacing shirbaha by paying for the costs of a limited festivity weakens the limitation on the choice of spouse and the dependence of individuals on the kin group that are inherent in traditional marriage transactions. The dowry that a girl brings into the marriage now provides part of the material preconditions for establishing a new household. This is reflected in the newly married womens perception of their dowry; many of them keep it safely packed for their independent household.