page_title: Bride kidnapping
hierarchical_section_title: Bride kidnapping
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: «&#160;Pirates normands au IXème siècle&#160;»English: Norman pirates in the 9th century
context_page_description: Bride kidnapping, also known as bridenapping, marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry.
  Bride kidnapping has been practiced around the world and throughout prehistory and history, among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in Southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, the Romani in Europe, and tribes in the Amazon jungle. Bride kidnapping still occurs in various parts of the world, but it is most common in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
  In most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime rather than a valid form of marriage. Some types of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. The term is sometimes confused with elopements, in which a couple runs away together and seeks the consent of their parents later. In some cases, the woman cooperates with the kidnapping, typically in an effort to save face for herself or her parents. Even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax in some areas. Bride kidnapping is often a form of child marriage.
context_section_description: Bride kidnapping, also known as bridenapping, marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry.
  Bride kidnapping has been practiced around the world and throughout prehistory and history, among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in Southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, the Romani in Europe, and tribes in the Amazon jungle. Bride kidnapping still occurs in various parts of the world, but it is most common in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
  In most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime rather than a valid form of marriage. Some types of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. The term is sometimes confused with elopements, in which a couple runs away together and seeks the consent of their parents later. In some cases, the woman cooperates with the kidnapping, typically in an effort to save face for herself or her parents. Even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax in some areas. Bride kidnapping is often (but not always) a form of child marriage. It may be connected to the practice of bride price, and the inability or unwillingness to pay it.
  Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former refers to the abduction of one woman by one man (and his friends and relatives), and is still a widespread practice, whereas the latter refers to the large scale abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war (see also war rape).
  Some cultures today (such as Circassians) maintain symbolic bride kidnapping ritual as part of traditions surrounding a wedding. According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of marriage by capture, based on the practice of the husband going into hiding with his wife to avoid reprisals from her relatives, with the intention that the woman would be pregnant by the end of the month.
caption: A depiction of Vikings kidnapping a woman. Viking men would often kidnap foreign women for marriage or concubinage from lands that they had pillaged. Illustrated by French painter Évariste Vital Luminais in the 19th century.
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