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Sororate marriage is a type of marriage in which a husband engages in marriage or sexual relations with the sister of his wife, usually after the death of his wife or if his wife has proven infertile.[1] The fraternal equivalent islevirate marriage.
From ananthropological standpoint, thistype of marriage strengthens the ties between both groups (the wife's family or clan and the husband's) and preserves the contract between the two to provide children and continue the alliance.
TheInuit (formerly known asEskimos) of northernAlaska,Canada andGreenland follow or followed this custom. It is followed by the Chiricahua group of the Western Apache, who are Athabaskan speaking, as is levirate marriage.[citation needed]
Sororate marriage is practiced by theSioux (Lakota) tribes, and someWestern Mono tribes in California, such as theWuksachi orWaksachi.
Sororate marriage is practiced by theSwazi people and for the same reasons as stated.[citation needed] This type of marriage is made inBhutan. The former KingJigme Singye Wangchuck (the current king's father) is married to four wives, all of whom are sisters. There is evidence that sororate marriage existed in ancient China.
Levirate marriage was encouraged among ancientJewish cultures; the chief example of sororate marriage found in theHebrew Bible is that of sistersRachel andLeah to one husbandJacob, the forebear of theTwelve Tribes of Israel. Such a marriage as Jacob's during the lifetime of the first wife was subsequently prohibited by theLaw of Moses (Leviticus 18:18).[2] However, upon the death of his wife, a man was considered free to marry his late wife's sister and, if the deceased left issue (children), it was considered especially meritorious for the widower to do so.[3]
Christian views on sororate marriage have varied widely over time and between denominations. In theCatholic Church, thecurrent canon law of theLatin Church permits a widower to marry the sister of his deceased wife.[4] Together withconsanguineous relatives, someLutherans have prohibited marriage within close degrees ofaffinity, such as siblings-in-law, who are considered to fall within theprohibited degrees of kinship.[5] The 1646Westminster Confession prohibited marriages between siblings-in-law, stating that, "The man may not marry any of his wife's kindred nearer in blood than he may of his own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred nearer in blood than of her own."[6][non-primary source needed] However, the clause forbidding the marriage of a deceased wife's sister or a deceased husband's brother was removed in 1887 from the revision of the Westminster Confession created by thePresbyterian Church in the United States.[7] John Wesley, founder ofMethodism, believed the Levitical law permitted marriage with a deceased wife's sister.[8]
Sororate is a custom which is practiced amongthe Kurds likeLevirate marriage: When a man loses his wife before she bears a child or she dies leaving young children, her lineage provides another wife to the man, usually a younger sister with a lowered bride-price. BothLevirate and Sororate are practiced to guarantee the well-being of children and ensure that any inheritance of land will stay within the family.[citation needed]
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