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Matchmaker, Matchmaker make me a Match… By Angela Carontino
L'amour…Amor…䙄 …ความรัก...Grá…Amore…Love… The most beautiful of words and feelings. The need to love and be loved in return is as old as time. The hunt can sometimes feel complicated, elusive, hopeless and simultaneously wholly worth the effort. Matchmaker, please enter stage left! Through the ages, and contemporarily via online dating tools, people have used the services of matchmakers to find love and marriage. Historically meeting your match, marrying and having children was less a matter of choice and more a necessity. It helped families continue their lineage, family businesses as well as kept land and homes in the family. It could increase a family's wealth and possibly their status in society as well if a desirable match was made. Matchmaking was very important in all cultures as matchmaking and arranged marriages went handin-hand. Miai (matchmaking) was developed
Photo by D. Zolotarevs
by the Samurai in the 16th century to strengthen bonds between warlords and the warrior class. Arranged marriages would encourage loyalty and support if needed. A matchmaker, or nakōdo, acted as an intermediary between the man and woman's families, making introductions and assisting with contract negotiations. Miai would be initiated by the parents of a young man or woman one they are of marriageable age. The children would have little to do with the process and may not even know it is going on! The Nakōdo would meet with the potentials family and would have pictures of the eligible
