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A honeymoon is a
vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific festi ...
taken by newlyweds immediately after their
wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
, to celebrate their
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple's relationship - whether they are in matrimony or not - that exists before getting used to everyday life together.


History

In
Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
and some westernized countries' cultures, the custom of a newlywed couple's going on a holiday together originated in early-19th-century
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. 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 A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
. The practice soon spread to the European continent and was known in France as a ''voyage à la façon anglaise'' (translation: English-style voyage), from the 1820s onwards. Honeymoons in the modern sense—a pure holiday voyage undertaken by the couple—became widespread during the ''
Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...
'', in the late 1800s as one of the first instances of modern
mass tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
. According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of
marriage by capture Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping (hence the portmanteau bridenapping) has been practiced around the world and ...
, 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.


Etymology

The honeymoon was originally the period following marriage, "characterized by love and happiness", as attested since 1546. ''s.v.'' The word may allude to "the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest". According to a different version, of the
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
: Today, ''honeymoon'' has a positive meaning, but originally it may have referred to the inevitable waning of love like a
phase of the moon Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...
. In 1552,
Richard Huloet Richard Huloet was a 16th-century English lexicographer. He was born at Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. He was a contemporary of Peter Levens, John Withals, and John Véron. According to some sources, Samuel Johnson and he were the first wr ...
wrote: In many modern languages, the word for a honeymoon is a
calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
(e.g., french: lune de miel) or near-calque. Persian has a similar word, ''mah-e-asal'', which translates to "month of honey" or "moon of honey". A 19th-century theory claimed that the word alludes to "the custom of the higher order of the Teutones... to drink
Mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...
, or Metheglin, a beverage made with ''honey'', for thirty days after every wedding", but the theory has been challenged.


Effects

One 2015 scholarly study concluded that going on a honeymoon is associated with a somewhat lower risk of
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, 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 ring An engagement ring, also known as a betrothal ring, is a ring indicating that the person wearing it is engaged to be married, especially in Western cultures. A ring is presented as an engagement gift by a partner to their prospective spouse when ...
s and wedding ceremonies, is associated with a high risk of divorce.


Solomoon or unimoon

An emerging 21st-century travel trend is the "solomoon" or "unimoon", a separate, solo holiday the newlyweds take without their spouse. ''The New Zealand Herald'' cites a report by ''The New York Times'' that such alternatives to honeymoons are "particularly suited for couples who just cannot agree on where to go". (This trend contrasts with the use by a jilted bride or groom of the travel reservations intended for the honeymoon, as popularly depicted in such films as '' Sex and the City: The Movie'' (2008), in which Carrie Bradshaw turns her ruined Mexican honeymoon into a girls' trip, and '' Like Father'' (2018), in which a bride left at the altar travels with her absentee father on the cruise meant for her honeymoon.)


See also

* Marriage leave *
Vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific festi ...
* Honeymoon rhinitis * Honeymoon cystitis


References

{{Authority control Wedding Types of tourism Types of travel