Questions on Irish travelers.Let your voice be heard !! (526)

Marriage. Irish Travelers are endogamous. There are more females than males within the Traveler communities, so competition for marriage partners is strong. Marriages are still arranged by the mothers, sometimes at birth, although these early agreements are often broken. The young couple may have a say in finalizing the match, and rarely do the mothers arrange a marriage without prior approval from the couple. Traveler men are usually over twenty-one years of age when they marry, but their brides may be as young as twelve with the average being between fifteen and eighteen. An exchange of money, up to $200,000 in cash for the young man, is not uncommon among the more affluent Traveler families. Among the less affluent Georgia Travelers, the number of women marrying outside the group has been steadily increasing. Without a large dowry to offer a boy's family, these girls must choose between the possibility of remaining unmarried for life or marrying outside the group. Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas Travelers do marry across groups, but the growing population of each group contributes to a reduction in the exchange. Marriage between second cousins is allowed by Irish Travelers and is within the law of most southern states. Local officials have adapted to the cultural practices of the Irish Travelers by waiving the requirement for a court order from juvenile court for a marriage involving someone under fifteen. Weddings are usually held after Christmas because of the likelihood of a large number of Travelers being in the villages for the holidays. The holidays provide the Travelers with a chance to arrange marriages and then to organize the Ceremony before the families return to the road.

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In the case of those Travellers and Romany Gypsies profiled in BigFatGreekWedding, these have been the lavish wedding ceremonies and their attendant vast dresses, drinking, fighting and courtship rituals. The practice of “grabbing”, in particular, in which a young man tries to kiss a girl – using physical force if necessary – has raised lots of eyebrows.
These traditions are so compelling on TV because they are like regular British wedding conventions but exaggerated to the nth degree. What viewers have responded to in their millions is the idea that there are thousands of people living in Britain who are in many ways so similar, yet in some ways so profoundly different, from the rest of us. As well as the excessive weddings, the programme has also revealed a very moral, spiritual and sociable group of people, with an emphasis on family that many would argue has been lost in the rest of our society.