5 Old-Timey Courtship Rituals That Will Make You Cringe

One common belief about the Renaissance is that children, especially girls, married young. In some noble houses marriages were indeed contracted at a young age, for reasons of property and family alliance, but in fact the average age of marriage was quite old–in the middle twenties. Marriage statistics indicate that the mean marriage age for the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras was higher than many people realize.

Elizabethan by Web Squared. The major marriages elizabethan Elizabethan wedding customs to a modern day Western marriage is the dating woman had very.

Skip navigation! Story from Sex . Sara Coughlin. Courtship traditions have existed as long as cultures have accepted the concept of romantic love though many believe they’re mostly a Western thing. Some traditions, including those of ancient Chinese and Jewish societies, took on a more contractual approach to courtship, dictating that marriage be a matter of negotiation between two families. That approach may sound like a less swoon-worthy history, but it probably led to just as much romance — and heartache — for courters.

Since then, suitors of the modern era have attempted countless grand gestures to woo the ones they love — and the executions haven’t always been so smooth. While some people have successfully hoisted boomboxes over their heads or evaded airport security , others have embarrassed themselves on Jumbotrons. Luckily, people of yesteryear didn’t have as much technology available to them, which automatically lowered the stakes of their demonstrations of love.

But that doesn’t mean their low-tech gestures were any less ridiculous. Ahead, check out five of our favorite courtship traditions from history. You can thank your lucky stars and possibly your ancestors that you don’t have to go through any of them today. This month, we’re sharing steamy personal stories, exploring ways to have even better sex , and wading through the complicated dynamics that follow us into the bedroom.