House of D'outh
SO YOU WANT TO HAVE A ROM CEREMONY...
In Singapore, it is often called ROM Ceremony. ROM stands for REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGE.
But first, what the hell is a marriage even?
According to my understanding (and compilation from things that I have read up on it), the "legal" purpose of a marriage is as follows:
- to establish each other as the legal parent of your partner’s children (assuming if you have any or adopt any)
- to have monopoly in your partner's sexuality (ie: monogamy)
- to have some rights to your partner's domestic and other labour services (eg: "COOK ME DINNER NOW! CLEAN THE FLOOR NOW! HELP ME MOVE THIS HEAVY BOX!")
- to give your partner control over property belonging or potentially accruing to your partner (ie:
- to establish a joint fund of property - which may be for the benefit of both of you and any resulting children (economic partnership)
The marriage certificate is a paper which thus says that these agreements can be legally recognised and 'enforced'. For the most part I can agree with these legal terms of what constitutes a marital union and I can see the value of stating it down on paper especially where it may relate to children, money, medical consent, property and other financial decisions.
The big question is: why do we require the law or the state to come in to ratify our partnership? Could I have come up with a better terms of agreement for our union as a couple?
If we had to think of it in an old fashioned sense, perhaps community recognition (and family support) of this private agreement between individuals is what qualified unions as marriages. However, I feel I should clarify that I do not want to do this just because we want to gain our community's recognition of our union, but to have the opportunity to celebrate it together with the wider community around us. In a way,
CEREMONY
What is a wedding? INTERNET DICTIONARY SAYS: "A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage." I wish to design a ceremony for ourselves.
