Weddings

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! In this episode, Ellie and David talk about weddings. What kind of celebration is a wedding? And what social function do these festivities serve? Do weddings necessarily legitimize the institution of marriage? Or can weddings be dissociated from this legal institution and its problematic history? As they ponder these issues, your hosts walk you down the aisle of history by considering how early Christians developed their views about weddings by embracing some aspects of Roman weddings while rejecting others as vain and contrary to virtue. They also explore the meaning of weddings symbols that are still with us today and look at how weddings can challenge exclusionary nationalist ideologies. In the Substack bonus segment, Ellie and David talk about the weddings they’ve been to and discuss historical factors that shape our current conception of weddings.

Works Discussed:

Stephanie Coontz, Marriage, a History

Laurie Essig, Love, Inc.

Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage

Brooke Leany, “Something borrowed: The origins of Christian wedding rituals.”

Ellen Rothman, Hands and Hearts: A History of Courtship in America

Lisa Schwarzbaum, “Mamdani, His Mother and a Movie of Prescient Grace”

Jonathan Wolff, “The Value of Ceremonies”

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