can you imagine yourself get married to your cousin??????

Wow.. wouldn't there be any genetic problems? I thought close relatives have quite a lot of similar genes and therefore defect in the new born is quite significant in such case...

The Batak custom is more complicated than what is allowed in the UK, most of Europe and some States in the US (and, as far as I know, in many other countries). Here it is quite legal to marry your first cousin (that is, someone with whom you share two out of your four grandparents). It has been proved that there is no more risk of any genetic defect in the children of such a marriage than there is for any woman over 40 bearing a child (about 2% of births, I believe). Several notable people in the UK, including Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin, married their first cousins. In small communities where there is much more risk of intermarriage over several generations, it is probably wise to have such a rule but in large communities such as Europe and the United States, with a large gene pool, the risk of increased genetic problems is very little more than normal and not worth considering.

I can not imagine myself being married to a cousin of mine. i do noteven habe a cousin that would hold that kind of attraxtion anc interest for me. cousins are family. and that is where mine shall remain, not as any kind of lover.

hello, Yeah, that is really amazing. Well, we must respect their culture. But it is really shocking that it can also be done, I dont think that it is better because he is your own blood. And it said that if you married your own blood maybe your son will be defected. I dont know if that is true but I believe in that. But as what i said maybe we should respect them.

It's actually happen almost all over the world used to be when people still limited and the tradition still tight.

I can't imagine myself getting married with my cousin or anyone related by my own blood. That sounds and feels horrible..=0 I guess, there would rise a possible congenital abnormalities by then. The couple will have a hard time to deal with the possible consequences.

Hi. astryfernandy. Welcome to myLot! I think that this is very nasty. It really is. I could never marry my own flesh and blood. We may not come out of the same womb, but this is just sick. I am glad that I don't live in Batak. My cousins are only that, just cousins. Nothing more.

I think that this is a long traditional way of marriage. But still there are lots of country doing this things. Anyway the genetic problem maybe can be one of the main problem if cousins or close relatives get married to each other. Like i have friend with the same situation and the result they have 3 kids with abnormalities disorders. Not only physical but also mental retardation. I don;t know with some brothers if they also practicing this kind of marriage rites. This is the only thing that i know about with close blood relation to be married. With respect to other brothers in religion i am not sure if they will do this kind of marriages. Have a nice day to all!

Hi Astry. in my culture, we are allowed too to get married with our cousin. it is not forbidden but however we better avoid it. the reason is we can't have more brothers by that marriage. it would be different if we marry another guy from another family, we can have more family

Hi Astry. in my culture, we are allowed too to get married with our cousin. it is not forbidden but however we better avoid it. the reason is we can't have more brothers by that marriage. it would be different if we marry another guy from another family, we can have more family

I Think it is really disgusting, well getting married to your own blood line can cause some illness, because they said you will get weak.

I am also wondering about the genetic problems that may come about this practice. Being relatives they may have recessive genes that when two partners carry that recessive gene even how healthy they look they may pass these to their children. In my country this practice is considered taboo. We can only marry 3rd degree cousins, and even that is still frowned upon by others. Since its their culture for them they may not see it as wrong. I just hope that they undergo genetic screening first to avoid congenital sickness for their future children.

I guess the only problem with that is increasing the risk of genetic diseases. But if it were me, I'd still be weirded out because while I kind of grew up with my cousins. However, it really is normal for some cultures.

Batak tradition who married a cousin with uncle that such long-abandoned. indeed some still exist that make it but it is only a small part

I had some Lebanese friends in college who were siblings and their parents were first cousins. In some cultures it's accepted. I was taught you need to know who you are related to because it's not really accepted to get involved with people you are related to.

hi astryfernandy If I really loved my cousin yes I wou ld marry him, My great grandparents were first cousins and their children and grandchildren were all quite intelligent.It was not really acceptable to the powers that be but I do not think anyone knew that they were cousins at all.Thanks for sharing this history as I just learned something else new this eveving.

I think theres enough people in the world that you shouldnt need or want to marry a blood relative. Anyways you know what they say about inbreeding.

Here in our country it is not allowed and the church nor the country/government's law will ever allow someone to marry his/her cousin up to the 7th affinity. Scientifically,it is not good to marry with your blood relations,there will be some genetic problem that may/will arise. have a great Sunday and welcome to mylot

I don't think i could do that. Although i have a cousin on one side of our family married to other cousin on the other side. My moms cousins daughter married my dads brothers son. Which makes them both my cousins. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great day

I learned to read when I was very young, so I wasn't as weirded-out when I got to the story of Jacob (son of Isaac, son of Abraham) and how he was instructed (point-blank) to go to his uncle and marry the cousin, how he had to work seven years as 'dowry' for the Leah (the one he married against his will, as she had to be married before he could marry the one he wanted, Rachel ... all BEFORE he became Israel, I think). Maybe back then our genes weren't as refined as they are now ... maybe that's why all the Jews had such diet-restrictions, and we've forgone 'purity' in order to strengthen our genetic immunities