Polygamy

Polygamy is a word that comes from late Greek. It can be translated as many marriages. It refers to any form of marriage where a person has more than one spouse.Polygamy  at socialsciencedictionary.org There is also a concept called group marriage. In group marriage, all the (adult) members of the group are responsible for all the children.

A man being married to more than one woman at the same time is called polygyny. A woman being married to more than one man at the same time is called polyandry. 
These terms are used in zoology. They are under the titles: Polygyny in animals and Polyandry in animals.

Both forms have occurred in humans. Polygyny is much more common, and is practised by millions of people, mostly in Muslim and African countries. According to Muslim 
Sharia law, a man can have up to four wives at the same time. In many African Pagan religions, polygamy is a common custom, and there is often no limit to the number of women a man can marry. In most non-Muslim and non-African countries, polygamy is illegal, and a person who has more than one spouse can be prosecuted for bigamy. Some countries, including India, only permit Muslims to be polygamous.

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
Polygamy was practiced by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons). There is evidence that the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, was married to as many as 33 women, though many of these were not conventional marriages and some were never consummated.Janet Bennion, Polygamy in Primetime: Media, Gender, and Politics in Mormon Fundamentalism (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2012), p. 23 In 1890 the Church officially stopped polygamous marriages.Sarah Barringer Gordon, The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), p. 1 Church members who continue to practice plural marriage are excommunicated from the church, though it is practiced today in some small splinter groups.

 Sethepu/Isithembu 
Isithembu (Sethepu) is the African practice of a man being able to have more than one wife at the same time.Fezekile Futhwa, Setho: Afrikan Thought and Belief System (Alberton, South Africa: Nalane ka Fezekile Futhwa, 2011), p. 56  A man may marry again if his current wife or wives cannot have children. He keeps his current wife or wives as divorce is not allowed. A man may marry again if his current wife or wives have not produced male children. He can marry again if a wife does not want children. In some places, if a man dies, his wife or wives are married to his brother. This way his family is cared for. The Swazi culture says a man should have many wives. Polygamy (Isithembu) is normal for men.A. R. Radcliffe-Brown; Cyril Daryll Forde, African systems of kinship and marriage (London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), p. 89 Woman should have children, which is normal for them.

 References 

Category:Marriage
Category:Mating systems