10 October 2008
I've got this thing for history. It landed me in a dead-end major which I loved intensely, but which provided me with minimal marketable skills. As my ANES 101 class reminded me weekly, you have two options as an Ancient Near Eastern Historian: museum curator ("And here we have the bronze beard of the late Amenhotep II, 7th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt") or translator of obscure languages ("ראיתי אש ירדת מהשמים ונפלת אירושלם"*). By-the-bye, The Next Indiana Jones is no longer a viable/marketable option.
So this year, I picked a new major with a few more post-grad options, but history still pulls at my heartstrings.
I was just reading about Roman marriages- here in Happy Valley I get my fill of the Mormon variety, but the Roman wedding ceremonies were different in a beautiful and exotic way.
The bride wore saffron- I'd like to do my wedding in saffron maybe with burgundy?- and around her waist she knotted a braided rope to represent fidelity. The ceremony began at the bride's home, where her parents gave her away and the bride and groom exchanged their vows:
"Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia."
Where you are Gaius, there I am Gaia.
Where you are Father, I am Mother.
"Ubi to Gaia, ego Gaius"
Where you are Gaia, there I am Gaius.
Where you are Mother, I am Father.
Gaia, the Mother Goddess, the Earth, is the first goddess of fertility; as these young couples took eachother's hands in covenant, they promised to be parents together, to raise a family together. For the Romans, the purpose of marriage was family.
I'm not exactly jumping at the bit to get hitched, but I wonder sometimes how marriage would be different today if our vows were made not only to eachother but also to our children. Ought we not also promise to have and to hold our children till death do us part? Marriage becomes even more selfless when you see it that way.
I feel like now would be a good time for the music to start... "Family-- isn't it about time?" But see, here's the thing: It is really all about family. Marriage I mean. I think the Roman's had that bit pretty strait.
Vote yes on Prop 8.
*"I saw fire descend from the sky and fall upon Jerusalem." Or something to that effect.
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6 comments:
Dude, what's your major now?
Being Indiana Jones has never truly ceased to be a viable career choice. It's just one where the job interview is a little tougher than average, and with the lack of Nazis and Communist Russians (I haven't seen the fourth movie yet so I'm making plot assumptions) these days, it would be a little less exciting.
You could always settle for "Smartest lady in the Stake" as a career choice? Problem there is the only rewards are intangibles...
Yes and no.
First: "The family is the fundamental unit of the Gospel." So yes, it is all about family. Raising righteous offspring (or doing your danrndest to do so). Learning selflessness through parenting.
But: I don't think that marriage is only about children. They're an essential part (and without them it's hollow and not filling the measure of its creation) - but it's marriage that leads to exaltation, not parenting. Marriage is about marriage. I think you learn at least as much selflessness through marriage as through parenting (though different kinds). I've known a family now for several years where the mother is all about her children. She is their cook, their maid, their cheerleader, and their chauffeur. She is on their PTAs and spends hours every week driving them to the activities they love best. And ... she and her husband very nearly got a divorce when she discovered that he was on his 3rd affair.
So all of this is a long way of saying that no, I don't think that our lives would be better if we covenanted to our children, because (though that would work in some cases) I think that before you can have a solid family you need a solid, supportive, loving marriage. I think it goes: 1. God 2. Spouse 3. Children - but if you've got your priorities in the right place then none of those gets a lesser portion, if you know what I mean.
Okay - I'm done spouting off now. ;)
I have been corrected, thank you Mrs. Baldwin.
I realize I have oversimplified the beautiful and holy bond that is between a married man and woman. I hope the few changes I have made to my post show my thoughts better; Marriage isn't just about living and loving together as two people, it is about creating a family unit- with or without children. For further explanation see The Family: A Proclamation to the World.
- a humble editor
Nice verification. (The Proclamation on the Family was where I was taking my inspiration from, as well.)
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........
I think I meant "clarification."
I must have written that while sleeping.
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