Marriage Registration and Marriage Traditions in Ukraine and Russia
Leave your comments about this article below
A few days ago, on February, 20, it was 90 years since registrations of marriages were introduced. On this day in 1919, the young Soviet government issued a Decree (Resolution) on marriage and marriage registration. Since that day, all church ceremonies lost it's legal power, and registration of marital relations between men and women has become the task of the state.
The Soviet Power announced total equality between men and women, and started active reforms of the whole institution right away. The state organs of marriage registration — the so-called ZAGS — were established.
The beautiful ceremonies of weddings in churches was not stopped forever, though. Some couples continued to follow the old tradition and married in churches, though state registration was obligatory anyway.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, when many people felt like restoring old pre-revolutionary traditions of their great grandfathers (or just to follow the Western traditions), the weddings in churches started to grow more popular.
Today, door of churches are always open for everyone, but marriages in churches for many people do not mean more than just an old, beautiful tradition. Very few know why their ancestors married at churches, and what responsibilities they had to carry. The real reason of marrying in church was associated with obtaining permission from God for giving birth to children.
Presently, churches in the states of the former Soviet Union give marriage ceremonies only to those who is officially married (when the marriage has been registered by the state organ, ZAGS). In its turn, the state does not grant churches with the right to marry couples officially.
It is interesting to say that the words combination «grazhdansky brak» (civil marriage) initially meant the officially registered marriage. In the Soviet state, only this way of registration set up rights and duties of the spouses.
Today, the new Marriage Code of Ukraine, has made the registered and the civil (unregistered) marriages almost equal. Presently, unlike the Soviet time, couples don't need to have seals in their passports to be able to move in together, or have children, or purchase common property, etc.
There are some limitations on international couples, though, which is related to intergovernmental agreements between countries, visa issuance and legalizing status of couples having different citizenships.
Such couples need to consult with legal experts in ZAGS and survey their national marriage legislations before registration of marriage. But after some paperwork is done, they can marry officially in local ZAGS of the area where they reside.
Add A Comment