Hindu Marriage Vs Catholic Marriage

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Marriage is the union of a man and a woman and is bound by the law and religion. Catholic marriage is defined as a natural institution, where a man and women give mutual consent for a marriage that will last forever. It is for procreation and to further their mutual love” (Hardon 's, 2015). Hindu marriage is defined as the joining of a man and a woman as husband and wife so that they can pursue their duty, physical desires and spiritual needs together. It is recognised by the law and is for life. These definitions are different in many ways. This essay will address the hypothesis that both the sacraments of marriage that are celebrated by Hindus and Catholics achieve different purposes, structures and symbols.

The purpose of the Catholic
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In a Catholic marriage ceremony leaving the ordinary occurs when the wedding parties enter the Church and are greeted by the priest and continues after the bride walks down the aisle through to the opening prayer. In comparison the Hindu ceremony leaving the ordinary consists of the Vara Satkaarah and Achamana where the wedding parties arrive, are welcomed, escorted in and prayers to Gods are completed (Hindu Wedding, 2014). Though they have similar ideas the way they are executed are different, as the time taken to leave the ordinary is longer in Hinduism. The preparation of the Catholic ceremony is the Liturgy of the Word, whereas in Hinduism the preparation comprises a host of rituals. These include Madhuparka, a drink; Kanya Daan, Pani-Granhanam, where the bride’s parents give her away; Vivah-homa, a sacred fire ceremony; Pragtigna-Karanam, couple walk around the fire reading vows; Shilarohanam, the bride steps onto a stone to prepare for a new life; Laja Homa, the guests put offerings into the fire and Angi-Parikrama, the couple walk clockwise around the fire four times. These are different as Catholic is more religious and related to God but Hindus is more traditional and culturally based. The climax of the Catholic marriage ritual is the rite of marriage, as the couple exchange consent, vows, rings and are blessed. They are then …show more content…
The purposes also vary slightly as Catholics marry because of love, to procreate and to reflect the image of God and Hindus marry to uphold their social status and their families and to procreate. The Catholic marriage’s purpose is also the union of the couple but the Hindus is the giving of the bride to the groom ( Catholic Sacraments, 2006). The structures are different as Hindus use more physical actions to represent their religion and the joining of the couple and Catholics use prayers and words from their religion. The differences between the Catholic and Hindu symbols are that the Catholics focus on the couple and their love as opposed to Hindus who put the emphasis on the giving of the wife to the husband. For all these reasons the marriage ceremonies of Catholics and Hindus differ greatly. This proves my hypothesis that both the marriage sacraments that Hindus and Catholics celebrate achieve divergent purposes, structures and

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