The Past and Present of Marriage Customs in UAE: A Comparison and Contrast

        It is important to remember that marriages are driven by some traditions and customs, which are particular to every society. The religion is also a main factor in defining the customs of marriage that what process would be followed and how things will happen. A Muslim marriage can be different from a Christian marriage in so many different ways. UAE is following the religion of Islam as majority of the population is Muslim. So, Muslim marriages have certain set procedures and paper work, which cannot change much in any Muslim culture, but there are various other traditions, which have changed over time (PEW Research, 2016). It is important to talk about some old marriage customs and traditions, and then they will be compared with modern day customs and traditions to find out the real difference between the two time periods

            It has been observed that marriages in the past were very simple and the costs of those marriage ceremonies were not too expensive. Moreover, the marriages used to be done at homes of the bride and groom. The preparation of marriages used to get a lot of time in the past. The influence of Islamic culture was evident in old day marriages. The preparation of brides was simple in old times, and brides were got ready for the marriage ceremony at homes. But in modern day marriage in UAE, the process of preparing the brides for marriage is quite long, costly and complicated. Now, the brides are not prepared at home, rather generally expensive beauty parlors and makeup artists are used to get brides ready. The brides also used to wear expensive dresses and jewelry in modern day marriages, which was not a prevalent tradition in old time marriages. Moreover, traditionally marriage ceremonies were used to hold at homes, and food was also prepared at home. But today, marriage halls are used to hold marriage ceremonies. These changes have made the modern day marriage more costly as compared to traditional marriages in UAE (Rhys, 2007)

            The gender roles have been very specific in UAE, where women used to stay at home and take care of the daily routine tasks at home, whereas men has the reasonability of earning the resources for running the household. This trend is also changing with the passage of time, and women are getting inclusion in different fields of life rather just staying at home. Such changes in gender roles have also changed the essence of past and present day marriages. The males in UAE still very much believe in old traditions and gender roles, but women in UAE are getting more modern with the passage of time (Wang & Kassam, 2016). These changes in social aspects have made a viable impact on marriage customs and traditions as well. The women had no say in traditional marriages in UAE, rather the decisions was only made by her parents or elders. But this tradition is also changing and in modern times, the women are getting more say in making decisions for their lives. The other important tradition was early marriages, where the age of males and females were used to be very young; even they were forced to get married before the age of 18. In modern life, this tradition is very much negated by the modern society, and things are getting better in this regard (The World Bank, 2017)

            In past times, the marriages were great source of social interaction between the families. The marriage invitations were made in personal, where parents of bride and groom used to visit homes of people to get them invited for the event. But in modern day marriages, the invitation cards are printed with all marriage event details, and these cards are given to those, who are being invited at the wedding ceremony. Moreover, in tradition marriage in UAE, the traditional music as well as dance was a major element, where men and women used to participate in it. But in modern day marriage, the music is not sung by the people, rather DJ music and huge sound systems are used during the marriage celebrations. Moreover, the old marriages were traditional and showed the essence of Arabic culture, but modern day marriages are very much influenced by the Western traditions. As mentioned earlier, that marriages were held at homes in old times, but modern day marriage ceremonies are held at lavish hotels, restaurants or big marriage halls. Even now wedding planners and event management companies are used by the families to arrange everything about marriages, whereas it was done by the families itself in the past (Medium.com, 2017)

References of The Past and Present of Marriage Customs in UAE: A Comparison and Contrast

Medium.com. (2017). Traditional Wedding on the UAE in past vs now. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://medium.com/@Am__Ak/traditional-wedding-on-the-uae-in-past-vs-now-1a7f7b73160

PEW Research. (2016). 2. Religion in marriages and families. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from http://www.pewforum.org/2016/10/26/religion-in-marriages-and-families/

Rhys, J. B. (2007). Weddings, Marriage and Money in the United Arab Emirates. Anthropology of the Middle East, 2(1), 20-36.

The World Bank. (2017). Educating Girls, Ending Child Marriage. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2017/08/22/educating-girls-ending-child-marriage

Wang, Y., & Kassam, M. (2016). Indicators of Social Change in the UAE: College Students’ Attitudes Toward Love, Marriage and Family. Journal of Arabian Studies, 6(1), 74-94.