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EVEN as
June is widely acknowledged as the wedding month of the
year, most Filipino couples would rather opt to walk
down the aisle and exchange vows a month earlier.
Based on
records of the National Statistics Office (NSO) on the
figures of registered marriages by month of occurrence
as of 2003, most wedding bells in the Philippines have
actually rung in May and not in June, when they are most
expected to be heard.
The
agency based its findings on the number of marriages
officiated by priests, pastors, judges, mayors and
others as authorized by law in 2003.
The NSO
said that for four consecutive years, from 2000 to 2003,
May—the month of flowers and festivals in the
country—was consistently the most popular wedding month
for engaged partners.
The
agency attributed the many weddings that occur in this
month to the many May festivities that influence the
decision- making of couples to tie the knot.
A total
of 593,553 weddings were recorded in 2003, or 1.8
percent higher than the 583,167 registered in 2002.
On a
monthly basis, May was found out to be the weddingest
month, with 67,851 marriages solmenized, or a daily
average of 2,189 marriages.
The
month of December was ranked second with 63,571 and an
average of 2,051 marriages a day; followed by January,
with 63,302 and daily average of 2,042.
June,
which was supposed to be the peak month for getting
married, settled at the fourth slot with 57,612 only and
had 1,920 weddings a day.
Trailing
behind the rankings were April, which produced 51,269
weddings, with a daily average of 1,709 ceremonies;
March, 50,925 and 1,643 daily average; February, 50,557
and 1,806; October, 42,811 and 1,381; September, 40,696
and 1,357; July, 38,973 and 1,257; November, 33,955 and
1,132; and August, 32,031 and 1,033.
Civil
weddings on the rise
IN Spite
of the
Philippines’
high regard for the sanctity of marriage as the only
Catholic nation in Asia, the study revealed that most
Filipino couples had contracted their marital union
before a judge or a politician.
Of the
total number of weddings, 41.3 percent, or more than two
in five, were done in civil ceremonies.
Marriages before the Roman Catholic Church ranked second
with 37.1 percent; while the rest were solemnized in
Islamic rites, at 0.2 percent; tribal, 0.2 percent; and
other religious traditions, 21.3 percent.
Age does
matter
THE
marriage statistics also found that the age for settling
down varied across genders in 2003.
The
median age for men and women to exchange vows were 27
and 25 years old, respectively.
For the
young populace, 80,085 girls, or 13.5 percent of the
total number of brides, got married before they reached
20.
This was
more than four times the number of boys at 19,829.
Between
the ages of 20 and 24, about four out of 10 women got
married, while nearly one out of three men tied the knot
between 25 and 29 years old.
Married
people in their golden years, on the other hand,
revealed that 20,216 males, representing 3.4 percent of
the total number of grooms, exchanged vows after
reaching 50.
The
figure was more than twice the number of women at 9.288,
or 1.6 percent, in the same age bracket.
In the
most senior age group, grooms aged 75 years old and
over, at 1,149, were three times more than the brides in
the same age group.
Love
knows no boundaries
IN the
last four years, the
Philippines
has seen a rise in marriages between Filipino nationals
and foreigners.
According to the NSO’s marital data, 17,095 marriages,
or 2.9 percent of the total, were between Filipinos and
foreign nationals.
Some
13,497 weddings were between Filipinas and foreign men.
In this
category, the most number of marriages involved Filipino
brides and Japanese grooms at 5,468.
Other
foreign nationals who traded marital vows with Filipino
women were Americans at 3,002; Australians, 569;
Chinese, 393; Germans, 205; Spanish, 124; and others,
3,519.
Meanwhile, a total of 3,598 Filipinos married women from
abroad.
Under
this category, there were some 1,999 Filipinos who tied
the knot with Chinese women, followed by an exchange of
vows involving Americans, 514; Japanese, 155; Spanish,
129; and Australians,111.
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