In ancient times, why was it rare for a cousin to marry a cousin?The reason can be unexpected
In the distant feudal era, people lived in a society that valued the idea of family status. The marriage preference of the time emphasized not only in accordance with family status and history, but also on unions between relatives. This type of marriage was considered desirable at the time, as it allowed the parties to complement each other in terms of family status and to better understand and trust each other on the basis of kinship. However, in today's society, with the rapid development of technology, we know that consanguinity marriage is an extremely dangerous behavior.
One of the main risks is that the offspring of consanguineous marriages may develop genetic mutations that make recessive genes homozygous. These recessive genes often carry undesirable genetic traits that can be passed on to future generations, causing serious health problems. One of the most unpleasant examples is the birth of a child with a severe deformity, a pain that no parent can bear.
That's why we advocate for people in today's society to choose to marry by close relatives. Such a marriage can improve the health and quality of the offspring. However, we should consider the question of this: in ancient societies that admired consanguineous marriage, the number of deformed children was not as high as we think. Was it because of a lack of scientific knowledge at the time, or was there something else we didn't know?
Blood relationship. In modern science, consanguinity is usually defined as kinship within three generations. Once this threshold is exceeded, blood relations become estranged and genetic similarity decreases, so they are no longer considered close relatives. A marriage of relatives within three generations is considered a consanguineous marriage and is generally considered immoral, which is commonly referred to as **.
However, in the old era, when the level of science and technology was relatively backward, people did not realize this. In the absence of scientific support, they only knew that marriage between close relatives strengthened family ties and made the clan more united. If a man and a woman are originally related by blood, their family origins are often very different. This is in line with"Family equals family"The old idea that marriage between cousins was therefore very common and popular at the time.
At that time, when technology was not yet developed, people did not understand the potential dangers of consanguineous marriage. They only believe that consanguineous marriages help maintain close family ties and strengthen clan ties. Since the man and woman are originally related by blood and have similar family backgrounds, such marriages are also in line with the old times"The door is right"The concept. Therefore, at that time, marriages between cousins were common and respected.
In ancient times, both commoners and royalty valued the purity of family status and blood relations. The emperor's princesses were no exception, sometimes marrying foreign royals in order to establish and maintain family alliances. However, the princess's spouse must have noble royal blood.
The ancients had great respect for status and lineage, and did not allow noble bloodlines to be mixed with other lowly bloodlines. In order to ensure the purity of the bloodline, they usually only seek marriage partners from families of similar status.
But in modern times, isn't that one of the causes of deformed children?Consanguineous marriage is an undesirable practice, but did it cause a lot of trouble for the ancients?
At that time, people attached great importance to their family status and the purity of their bloodline, regardless of whether they were rich or poor. So much so that royal princesses often marry other royal families in order to establish political alliances. But these marriages must be as honorable as blood ties. Due to the strong desire for blood ties in ancient times, kings usually chose to marry from families of equal status.
In today's society, we tend to emphasize the importance of keeping in touch with relatives for more than three generations, and unless there is a special reason, distant relatives may never see each other again for the rest of their lives. However, the concept of the ancients was completely different from that of the modern people. They are happy to stay close to their distant relatives, and even if they are very distant by blood, they are willing to trace the ancestors of several generations in search of common ancestors.
Thus, in many cases, the marriage of the ancients was actually an ordinary union between two men and women who were not related by blood, since there were no close relatives to marry. In this case, the likelihood of a child being deformed is almost zero.
Giving birth to a deformed baby.
In modern times, our main focus is on communicating with relatives within three generations, and it is unlikely that we will communicate with relatives further away in our lifetime, except in exceptional circumstances. But the ancients thought differently, they were happy to communicate with distant relatives, and no matter how distant the blood relationship was, they would try to trace the origins of generations and find a trace of connection.
In many cases, the marriage of the ancients was actually an ordinary union between a man and a woman who were not related by blood, rather than a marriage between close relatives. In this case, the likelihood of a malformed child being born is almost zero.
Polygamy was common in ancient times, and a husband usually had at least two wives. Although children have the same father, not all children are related by blood. In such a family, blood relations are inherently different, not to mention solidarity with the outside world. Also, if a deformed child is actually born, will the locals allow such a thing to happen?In their view, the birth of a deformed child is a punishment from heaven and a sign of the moral decay of the family. Therefore, they prefer to hide this kind of thing in order to avoid criticism from others.
But how did the Aboriginal people react to the birth of a deformed child?Every child is born when the mother is pregnant for ten months and on the verge of life and death before bringing it into this world, and the slightest carelessness will cause both mother and child to die. Locals prefer to keep this deformed child from the outside world so as not to affect the family's reputation.
In such cases, the indigenous people do their best to take care of these special children while also taking care of the family's reputation. Despite the fact that there was no modern medical technology at the time, they did their best to find ways to improve the quality of life of children. In short, the attitude of the Aboriginal people towards the deformed child reflects the importance they place on the honor of the family and the respect for life.
Many deformed children are born with the disease and often die within a few years. Deformed children who have not grown up** are not included in the family tree, and their graves are rarely found. Many of the dead deformed children were wrapped in straw by their families and thrown into the wild as if they had never been born.
The ancients did not dare to reveal to the outside world that their children were deformed, for fear of being ridiculed and ridiculed. In addition, some people regard this as a punishment from heaven and take the opportunity to slander the family, resulting in the destruction of the family.
In the past, common illnesses such as fever and colds were life-threatening due to a lack of medical technology. In those days, having a baby was a risky thing to do. It is not easy for children to grow up, and they really need the favor of heaven and earth. Many children are born frail and sickly, often dying early from minor illnesses. Due to poor sanitation conditions at the time, children born with defects had fewer chances of survival and often died young.
In addition, due to the lack of scientific knowledge, the indigenous people were unable to explain the cause of the birth of the deformed child and could only blame the phenomenon on mysterious gods. Some people think that the gods are unhappy with what they are doing and warn them with deformed children;Others believe that it is a punishment from the gods. These negative superstitions make it difficult for the world to accept deformed children.
Make a judgment. Thus, the attitude of the Aboriginal people towards deformed children reflects their ignorance and fear, and at the same time exposes their powerlessness in life. In today's society, we should attach importance to the popularization of scientific knowledge, care for vulnerable groups, protect their rights and survival interests, and let every life be respected and cared for.