Marriage Trivia: How Much Do You Know About Marriage Across The Country?

Since 1996, National Marriage Week, and its stateside counterpart, National Marriage Week USA, has aimed to spread awareness about the value of marriage by rallying together dozens of organizations to provide marriage classes and resources for couples internationally.

But National Marriage Week (this year's runs from February 7 to 14) is not without its critics, who say that the initiative is wrong-headed, and promotes only heterosexual marriage.

Here at HuffPost Weddings, we're interested in kick-starting discussions about marriage, so for us, National Marriage Week serves as a perfect excuse to do just that. To get the conversation going, we've put together a list of the nation's quirkiest, most surprising facts about tying the knot. Click through the slideshow below and let us know in the comments: will you be "celebrating" National Marriage Week?

Comments

[henryt3934]

03:13 PM on 02/14/2012

Famous cousin couples:
King Xerxes I of Persia and his first cousin Amestris
Josiah Bartlett, second signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin, Mary Bartlett
William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin, Catherine Moffatt
Wernher von Braun and his first cousin, Maria Luise von Quistorp
Charles Darwin and his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood.
Their grandparents, Sarah Wedgewood and Josiah Wedgwood, he of the blue & white pottery.
Albert Einstein and his first cousin (through his mother) and second cousin (through his father), Elsa Löwenthal née Einstein
Carlo Gambino, a mob boss, and his first cousin, Catherine Castellano
André Gide, Nobel Prize-winning French author, and his cousin, Madeleine Rondeaux.
Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer, and his first cousin, Nina Hagerup
Jesse James and his first cousin, Zerelda "Zee" Mimms
David Lean, British film director, and his first cousin, Isabel Lean.
John A. Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada, and his first cousin, Isabella Clark
Rob Roy (MacGregor) and his cousin Mary Helen MacGregor
Francis Marion, American revolutionary leader also called the "Swamp Fox," and his first cousin, Mary Esther Videau
Abraham Maslow, father of humanistic psychology (“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs”), and his first cousin, Bertha Goodman
Darius Milhaud, French composer, and his first cousin, Madeleine Milhaud
Christopher Robin Milne, of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, and his first cousin Lesley Sélincourt.
Igor Stravinsky, composer, and his first cousin, Katerina Nossenko
H. G. Wells, author, and his first cousin, Isabel Mary Wells

[drb107]

02:09 PM on 02/14/2012

Everybody talks about inbreds from WV,,,lol, WV doesn't allow Cousins to marry at all. In North Carolina you can marry your 1st cousin but not allowed to marry a double 1st cousin, what is a double 1st cousin? California surprised me because most of the states that do are in the south.

[henryt3934]

02:48 PM on 02/14/2012

Double 1st cousins are people whose parents are BOTH siblings. Two of my mother's father's sisters married two brothers, so their children were double first cousins, sharing at least 1/4 of their genes instead of 1/8 as with normal first cousins. A third sis married a first cousin of the two brothers, so their children were also more closely related to the double first cousins than normal first cousins. These relationships are not unusual, and were even more common in previous centuries. EVERYONE posting horrified comments here is descended from a number of unions between first cousins and closer relatives, not all of them involving marriage. They just haven't researched their genealogy well enough yet. As PoodleMom206 points out below, a huge fraction of our genes are identical. If you believe we are all descended from Adam and Eve, or if you believe the evidence from research into mitochondrial DNA, along with the aftermath of an eruption of the Indonesian volcano Toba 75,000 years ago, and possibly other events that killed almost all humans, it must be clear that we ALL descend from MANY unions of rather close relatives. This is also true of other animals. Cheetahs, for example, are inbred to a degree that endangers survival of the species.

[PoodleMom206]

02:07 PM on 02/14/2012

The ignorant remarks regarding marriage between cousins amazes me. At best, first cousins share maybe 12% exact genetic material. (Want creepy? As humans, we share almost 99% genetic material with every other human. You don't want to know how much we share with other animals.) So, first cousins can produce offspring with very little chance of problems unless both parents share certain recessive genes or are carriers. So, the state of Maine has it right. No problem, but be aware of potential risks.

[xxgreyeyes]

01:47 PM on 02/14/2012

They won't let gay people marry, but they'll let 1st cousins marry.

[er2blu]

12:48 PM on 02/14/2012

The law should be written such that only liberals can marry liberals... Otherwise they only ruin two seperate families

[360Dunk]

12:15 PM on 02/14/2012

I'm still waiting for laws to change so I can marry my Grandmother.

[mds308]

12:39 PM on 02/14/2012

Get in line.

[360Dunk]

12:53 PM on 02/14/2012

Dammit, you had an affair with her too? Be gentle with her....osteoporosis is difficult to overcome when intimacy is involved.

[henryt3934]

03:53 PM on 02/14/2012

No problem -- Ray Stevens is here to tell you how:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw

[360Dunk]

04:29 PM on 02/14/2012

As a proud inbred, I thank you for the catchy tune.....think I'll seduce someone with it at my next family reunion.

[Mouse223]

11:45 AM on 02/14/2012

I'm adopted, so if I were to try and marry my first cousin (which I don't want to mind you =P) would the same laws apply? XD I would assume they would.

[houseiowapark]

11:30 AM on 02/14/2012

I knew of some first cousins who married and had a huge family. Thirteen, if I remember correctly. Some had six toes and fingers on each hand and foot and some were born with severe hair lips and none had good sense. They were spooky looking and spooky to be around.

[wcaacw]

11:27 AM on 02/14/2012

Does anyone know if its legal in the 57th state?

[360Dunk]

12:14 PM on 02/14/2012

Let me ask Heinz about that and I'll ketchup to you later with the answer.

[mjmjupiter]

10:30 AM on 02/14/2012

While admitting marring your first cousin seems wrong, who cares if they are unable to have children and want to be together? At least it's a marriage between a man and a woman and besides it was common practice for hundreds of years in europe and noted many times in the bible.

[Terence Duke]

06:14 AM on 02/15/2012

what does mentions in the bible have to do with our civil laws? I don't recall the bible mentioning red lights so do I have to stop at them? Why are women allowed to come home with that baby the next day? She is supposed to be gone until she is clean again. Something like 20 days or so. But ifs a girl longer.. Makes you dirtier I guess.

[LivelyLexie]

10:09 AM on 02/14/2012

Marrying your first cousin? The thought makes me sick - they're (biologically and socially) like my brothers!

[goldsilver50]

09:59 AM on 02/14/2012

Just act like animals huh, have offspring with your cousin and then want the government to feel sorry for you when you have deformed children. Take some responsibility for your OWN actions!!!!

[STB52]

09:18 AM on 02/14/2012

It is simple. If you are a Bible believing christian, there is only one type of marriage. The one between a woman and a man. That is the way God set it up and the way I believe He wants it.
Does this mean that homosexuals cannot be Christians? Of course not. It is viewed as an abomination to God, but it is just another sin which can be forgiven as much as the most heinous crime you can imagine. It is between God and that individual. Everyone can rant and rave about this issue, but it comes down to a sin issue and must be decided between the individuals and God Himself. The government, judges, lawyers and the supreme court need to keep their medling noses out of it, because in the end the only judge that matters is the Supreme Judge and his decicision cannot be appealed!

[Terence Duke]

06:16 AM on 02/15/2012

Then why do you allow divorce or wag fingers in the faces of divorced people at church..?

[STB52]

09:11 AM on 02/15/2012

You cannot lump all churches and what they put up with together. For example my home churches pastor and his wife have both been divorced and then found each other and are very happily married with children. Divorce, like homsexuality, is an individual choice. It is between God and the individuals. Love the sinner, not the sin. Churches and its congregations can be and are sometimes unforgiving to those whose sin is in the open, but that is because we are human and a long way from what God wants us to be.

[Arn Arn]

09:14 AM on 02/14/2012

The article says: "Twenty-five states prohibit marriages between first cousins, but California isn't one of them." What about all the other states where cousins can get married? Why is the author specifically mentioning California? What horrible journalism. But, this is HuffPost.

[Gary H Mayer]

09:49 AM on 02/14/2012

I am surprised that 25 states do not prohibit marriages between first cousins. As for common law marriages, I thought they were eliminated in all states. I lived with a woman for sixteen years and never loved her, from day one. If our state would have considered us married after seven years, I would have left her before that and saved a lot of misery. Well, at least she was a good cook.

[larick46]

09:09 AM on 02/14/2012

If a man marrys his cousin and they end up getting a divorce, is she still his cousin ?

[Gary H Mayer]

09:51 AM on 02/14/2012

larick46: Good question. I believe so; she's just not your wife. I wouldn't have given any of my cousins a second look, so none of this applies to me.

[fxcruiser]

11:59 AM on 02/14/2012

If a man marries his ex-wife's daughter from a previous marriage, can the new wife still call him "daddy"?

[henryt3934]

03:47 PM on 02/14/2012

Here's one famous opinion on the subject (skip to about 1:45 for the goodies):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeIYjAJvcnY