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Marriage Ceremony ties to five religions in this atlas: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. The record's own point is that these traditions disagree less about the wedding than about what makes the marriage, the single act each names as the one that actually counts.

Consent, Contract and a Seventh Step

In Catholic teaching the couple marry each other and the priest stands as witness; consent is the thing, and its absence is the ground on which a marriage can later be declared never to have existed. Islamic nikah is a contract with offer, acceptance, witnesses and a dower owed to the bride, and it can be concluded without any ceremony at all. Hindu marriage is completed by the seventh step taken together around the fire, the saptapadi, a point Indian courts have had to rule on directly when a couple's status was in dispute.

A Canopy, a Contract Read Aloud, and Four Circuits

Jewish marriage joins betrothal and marriage into one event under the canopy, completed by a ring given before witnesses and a written contract, the ketubah, read aloud. Sikh Anand Karaj is four circuits of the scripture walked while four hymns are sung, the couple bound to the text rather than to an officiant. And within Christianity itself the record holds a fifth answer again: Quakers marry in silence with no officiant at all, the meeting itself standing as witness, which is as far from a priest's consent-witnessing role as an answer to "what makes the marriage" can get while still calling itself Christian.

Where To Read More

• Marriage CeremonyLifecycle RitualsThe ceremony itself, tied to five religions each naming a different completing act
• ChristianityAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Catholic consent as the completing act; Quakers marry in silence with no officiant
• IslamAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Nikah, a contract with offer, acceptance, witnesses and a dower
• HinduismDharmic (Polytheistic)Completed by the seventh step around the fire, the saptapadi
• JudaismAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Betrothal and marriage joined under the canopy, sealed by ring and ketubah
• SikhismDharmic (Monotheistic)Anand Karaj, four circuits of the scripture while four hymns are sung