Ghost marriage, also called posthumous marriage or necrogamy, is a marriage in which at least one of the two parties is deceased. Documented forms include the Chinese custom of minghun, a South Sudanese custom in which a dead fiance's brother stands in for him at the wedding so that any children are counted as the deceased man's own, posthumous marriage practiced by India's Billava, Badaga, Komati and Toda communities, and a French legal form recognized since 1803, originally intended for war widows.
Facts
Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountDocumented in China (minghun), South Sudan, India (among the Billava, Badaga, Komati and Toda communities) and France (legally recognized since 1803). 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Dinka, Social Groups The Dinka of South Sudan, alongside the closely related Nuer, are the classic ethnographic case of ghost marriage, in which a deceased man is married by proxy so a kinsman can raise children in his name.
Ghost marriage, documented among the Nuer and Dinka, and levirate marriage both use a kinsman to continue a dead man legal line, differing in whether the deceased or his living brother is named as the legal husband.
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