Honeymoon travel

A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds shortly after a wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic.

History
The term “honeymoon” is used in French since at least the xviii th century, but its use seems to have widespread later in the second quarter of the 19th century. It is a layer of English honeymoon, which is found for the first time in a text published in 1546, the Proverbs of John Heywood. The word evokes the sweetness of love relationships as the tender vocative honey that lovers give themselves, since at least the time of Shakespeare. Cultural history teaches us that the term honeymoon is a metaphor for the spouses’ consumption of sweetening substances before, during and after the wedding ceremonies: mead in the Germanic peoples, sugar by the Hindus and Chinese and honey in ancient Egypt. These substances were supposed to possess aphrodisiac virtues, to promote fertility or to bring a good omen to the newlyweds.

The highlight of life, the period immediately following the wedding ceremonies, has been and is lived in very different ways throughout history, and according to the culture and religion of each person. It is a continuation of marriage as a rite of passage during which transitional abolition of the usual constraints to which individuals are subjected. According to Deuteronomy, the Israelites were exempt from military obligations for one year after their marriage. During the seven days following the wedding, Jewish brides and grooms were not to perform any work; moreover, the bride and groom were invited by family and friends for seven days; a choir sings for them the seven traditional blessings, or Sheva Brachot. Used by Jews in different Arab countries and India, the ritual temporary tattoo henna defines the time during which the bride is given housework, until the disappearance of the pigment from his body. After the cattle given to the parents of the bride Gusii (Kenya), it is exempt from any work for four to six weeks. In Idoma of Nigeria, even the mother of the bride is given to go to market five days after the wedding.

This permitted or even required rest on the part of the new spouses would be favorable to procreation and is associated with rites intended to improve the fertility of the woman. In Rwanda, the bride was subjected to post-nuptial confinement during which she was not allowed to touch the household utensils. Then took place the fertility rite called “cut the hoopoe,” consisting shaving hair ridges cut into crescent sign virginity. She will remain and do no domestic work until the day of the “discovery” when the family and the in-laws of the bride bring presents to the new couple.

In our affluent societies, marriage rituals are followed by a distance of young couples from their respective families. As early as the 1870s, the advent of honeymooners symbolically symbolized this separation by moving to more and more distant paradise horizons. The “honeymoon” extends the rituals of marriage and completes this important rite of passage in order to ensure the best conditions for the couple to procreate, and different societies will organize, each in their own way, the first stages of the marriage. empowerment of the couple members in relation to their families of origin.

In Western culture, the custom of a newlywed couple going on a holiday together originated in early 19th century Great Britain. Upper-class couples would take a “bridal tour”, sometimes accompanied by friends or family, to visit relatives who had not been able to attend the wedding. The practice soon spread to the European continent and was known as voyage à la façon anglaise (English-style voyage) in France from the 1820s onwards.

Honeymoons in the modern sense—a pure holiday voyage undertaken by the couple—became widespread during the Belle Époque, as one of the first instances of modern mass tourism. This came about in spite of initial disapproval by contemporary medical opinion (which worried about women’s frail health) and by savoir vivre guidebooks (which referred the public attention drawn to what was assumed to be the wife’s sexual initiation). The most popular honeymoon destinations at the time were the French Riviera and Italy, particularly its seaside resorts and romantic cities such as Rome, Verona or Venice. Typically honeymoons would start on the night of the marriage, with the couple leaving midway through the reception to catch a late train or ship. However, in the 21st century, many couples will not leave until 1–3 days after the ceremony and reception. In Jewish traditions, honeymoons are often put off seven days to allow for the seven nights of feasting if the visits to friends and family cannot be incorporated into the trip.

Etymology
The honeymoon was originally the period following marriage, “characterized by love and happiness”, as attested since 1546. The word may allude to “the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest.”

“The first month after marriage, when there is nothing but tenderness and pleasure” (Samuel Johnson); originally having no reference to the period of a month, but comparing the mutual affection of newly married persons to the changing moon which is no sooner full than it begins to wane; now, usually, the holiday spent together by a newly married couple, before settling down at home.

Today, honeymoon has a positive meaning, but originally it may have referred to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon. In 1552, Richard Huloet wrote:

Hony mone, a term proverbially applied to such as be newly married, which will not fall out at the first, but th’one loveth the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceadinge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people call the hony mone.

— Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum pro Tyrunculis

A fanciful 19th-century theory claimed that the word alludes to “the custom of the higher order of the Teutones… to drink Mead, or Metheglin, a beverage made with honey, for thirty days after every wedding”, but the theory is now rejected.

In many modern languages, the word for a honeymoon is a calque (e.g. French lune de miel) or near-calque of the English.

Modern Age
In the sixteenth century, newly married couples who wanted to have a male, had to drink mead throughout the lunar month following their wedding. From here we have inherited the current expression of “honeymoon”.

Babylonian culture
More than 4000 years ago it was customary in the Babylonian culture, where today Iraq is located, during a month after the wedding, that the father of the bride provided his son-in-law with all the honey beer he could drink. As the Babylonian calendar was based on lunar phases, this period was called “honeymoon”.

Ancient Rome
The mother of the bride had to leave in the bedroom where the bride and groom would sleep on their wedding night, a pot with honey for the newlyweds. Honey was also considered a revitalizing of fertility. In some cases, it was extended to approximately one month.

Teutons
The Teutons, an ancient people who lived in what is now Germany, celebrated their weddings only under the full moon. After the celebration, the bride and groom had to drink a honey liquor for 30 days to ensure a sweet life and a prolific family.

Effects
One 2015 scholarly study concluded that going on a honeymoon is associated with a somewhat lower risk of divorce, regardless of how much or little is spent on the honeymoon itself. However, high spending and incurring significant debt on other wedding-related expenses such as engagement rings and wedding ceremonies is associated with a high risk of divorce.

Catholic Church
The Catholic Church also accepted this custom, since by tradition honey was the symbol of marriage because it is an incorruptible food, which becomes much sweeter as time goes by. A perfect metaphor for the ideal of Christian marriage.

Honeymoon travel guide
Honeymoons are holidays taken by a newly married couple soon after their wedding. They are a traditional, or at least common (if private) part of wedding celebrations in some cultures.

There is increasing marketing aimed at couples for “honeymoon-like” holidays: for example “babymoons”, the last holiday before the birth of a couple’s first child.

Plan
A honeymoon in Western countries typically begins a few days after the wedding ceremony: the couple spends a night or two after the ceremony in their home or in a hotel rather than adding long-distance travel to the end of their day. The trip itself is often a fortnight in length and can, of course, be longer if you like.

Don’t think of flying in your marriage dress, unless you can buy first-class tickets (or you have many friends to help you both at the departure airport and at the destination). Reasons are multiple: moving your luggage, waiting in a line to check in and spending several hours squeezed into economy-class cabin are not the best things to do in marriage dress. Add carry-on luggage tag to the bride’s bouquet to get the full picture.

Popular choices of honeymoons include:

Beaches and islands

Cruises
When honeymoons began to be popular a century or two ago, they were a tour by the newly married couple of relatives who didn’t live near by, often relatives who hadn’t been able to come to the ceremony. This is far less common now, but is one possible model for your honeymoon if you do have close family or friends who were unable to come.

There are many dedicated honeymoon packages offered by travel agents, hotels, cruise liners and almost every other travel vendor. Typically these include “romantic” extras like massages, spa baths, bottles of champagne and better (and more private) rooms. They are usually aimed at a luxury market rather than a budget market: if you want a budget honeymoon it’s easier to plan it as a holiday for two immediately after your wedding, rather than asking for honeymoon specials. One advantage though of the honeymoon market is that it caters to the typical needs of couples interested in a romantic holiday. A location that specialises in honeymoons or couples is less likely to be full of families with young children, or party-happy backpackers, which appeals to many couples wanting a more private, peaceful holiday.

If you’re after the usual goals of a honeymoon (lots of time alone together), you’ll want to have an unhurried itinerary. Consider just one or two destinations.

People who change their name when they marry, should consistently use the name in their passport or ID card, when they book tickets, especially when flying. The validity of visas might be compromised by a change of name and marital status.

Buy

Budget
A honeymoon may require careful budgeting: the balance of the trip will usually be due around the same time as the balance of the cost of the wedding itself! It’s best to include a honeymoon budget in your wedding budget.

Your honeymoon can cost any amount that you choose to spend on it, of course. (You can even skip it, a travel site won’t talk much about that!) Travel agents are encouraged to suggest options that cost about half of your wedding budget, but that’s just their guide to the rough amount they can get you to part with, not an iron clad rule.

Some travel agents offer honeymoon registries in which the guests can contribute to the cost of the honeymoon as a wedding gift; you could also arrange this informally by asking for cash gifts from guests who want to contribute to the honeymoon. The acceptability of asking for what is always essentially a cash gift varies between cultures, families and couples.

Destinations
Goa, India
Venice, Italy
Santorini, Greece
Niagara Falls, New York/Ontario
Bali, Indonesia
Dubai, UAE
Beirut, Lebanon (a popular honeymoon destination among Gulf state tourists)
Jeju, South Korea

Source from Wikipedia