Research Paper on:
Amish and Samoan Marriage Customs

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cultures, they also have features in common. This is particularly evident in their marriage practices and customs as the following examination will demonstrate. Samoan The definitive study on Samoan  cultural practices was conducted by anthropologist Margaret Mead, which was conducted in 1926 when Mead was in her twenties. During her field work in Samoa, Mead lived with the people  and did everything possible to minimize the differences between herself and the Samoan women who lived among three little villages on the coast of the island of Tau (Mead 9).  Therefore, she was in an ideal position to learn the nuances of the culture firsthand. According to Mead, young people who are not from titled families enjoy a loosened  standard of sexual behavior than those of higher caste. Adolescent girls "mark time" by doing routine chores, weaving helping with plantation work, and cooking, but are mainly concerned with their  clandestine sexual adventures (Mead 25). Interest between the sexes starts to blossom around the age of puberty, i.e. usually around 13 or 14 years of age for girls. At this  age, young adolescents tend to socialize in small mixed groups at informal parties (sivas), which occur on the outskirts of more formal adult occasions (Mead 62). There are three  forms of relationships that occur between unmarried lovers, which involved clandestine encounters. This aspect of Samoan courtship encompasses everything from lovers meeting secretly to young men attempting to take the  place of an expected lover in situations that sound like a variation of Samoan "date rape." Formal relations always involve a "soa" who acts as go-between for the two parties  (Mead 67). These loosened standards, however, do not apply to any of the girls from titled families. These girls are expected to remain virginal and face stiff reprisals