Santuoka modernėjančioje Lietuvoje (1918–1940): nuo diskusijų iki pokyčių
Marriage in More and More Modern Lithuania (1918–1940): From Debate to Change

Summary/Abstract: The marriage institute of the 1st half of the 20th century, which encompasses broad historical-legal aspects as well as cultural-social sections of society, is perhaps the most striking dimension by which it is possible to reconstruct the principles of family formation in the interwar Lithuania. It is also possible to grasp the concept of romantic love (passion) emerging in society or the change of male-female relationships (including sexual ones). As far as marital, pre-marital, or non-marital relationships between men and women are concerned, it is clear that marriage and family are key elements through which acceleration of the changing society can be felt and political and social mechanisms that are relevant to gender collaboration can be described. Therefore, the subject of this study includes marriage as a legal event, a demographic section, and a striking case of the manwoman relationship behavior of 1918–1940. Analysis of statistical data in the study showed that marital behavior change in the general public during the period of 1918–1940 took place, but they were not radical: the changes were not a sudden cultural or social revolution in society. The causes of marriage continued to be dominated by the economic and confessional motives, and behavior was influenced by romantic love (passion), thus, differences in rural and urban environments began to appear. The interwar Lithuanian public controversy over the (un)necessity of the Civil Marriage Law primarily shows the different sentiments of ideological camps and reflects the (in)ability of the state to legally formally guarantee its citizens the right to free marriage. In this debate, the issue of marriage in general often overlapped with the question of civil registration, indicating that this actualization of the problem only partially reflected other realities concerning the institution of marriage. Therefore, the civil registration debate showed only one of the most pressing issues, but not the most important one. The Marriage Law drafts and projects provided for a rather gentle law that affirms (emphasizes) former traditions and experiences that had to find a compromise corresponding the controversy not only between the traditional (Christian) and the modern (secular) society, but also reflecting the changes of the majority of the Catholic society itself, and the relations with an authoritarian regime.

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