Thunese Weddings

Thunese culture still includes many traditional wedding elements, mostly when it comes to the celebration but less commonly when it comes to the selection of the spouse themselves with many families still practicing arranged marriages.

Families are matrilocal, with the maternal family clan and parents holding an important position when it comes to selecting a spouse.

Choosing a Spouse

Arranged marriages are not uncommon in Thunese culture, especially in more elite traditional families. These arranged marriages are often a way for a family or clan to climb the social ladder or make important social or political ties.

In some families, a bridal selection would be arranged where multiple eligible women would be presented to be selected as their son’s spouse, oftentimes this will be done when there are multiple men in the family that need to be married so that none of the participants get rejected and shamed; typically the selection is done by seniority with most senior man selecting first and least senior going last. 

These sorts of bridal selections were typically only possible for the most wealthy and noble of families, like the Thunese royal family. Modernly these bridal selections are rarely practiced. For the rest of Thunese society the marriage would be arranged by the parents and clans of the couple.

Modernly the interests and opinions of the child getting married will be taken into consideration, though the opinion of the parents is still very influential, with families pressuring a marriage being a possibility. There also exist marriage apps developed to help people and the parents find a good match while still following tradition. If a couple meets and develops a relationship on their own it is tradition for the couple to request approval from their parents and clan before continuing with an engagement and wedding.

Engagement and Marriage Ceremony

Much of the responsibilities revolving around an engagement and wedding fall on the man’s family, assuming the couple is heteronormative. It is typically the man and his family clan that initiate and propose the relationship to the woman’s family clan.

When one wishes to propose in traditional Thunese fashion, the man will send an engagement gift, often a piece of wedding jewelry, to the woman’s family residence often with a marriage request addressed to her parents. It is the parents and her clan who then have the power to approve or disapprove of the match, in progressive families this decision will often include the woman being proposed to. If the proposal is approved the wedding gift will be reciprocated with a similar gift sent to the man’s family. If the proposal is shot down, the original gift will be returned.

A traditional wedding ceremony is often done in front of the woman’s clan leaders and is a big event and show of wealth with many people being invited, days of feasting and celebrations, and fancy traditional clothing being worn. At the wedding the couple exchanges bracelets that symbolize their marriage. After the wedding, the husband will move in with the wife’s family, assuming they are heteronormative.