What do you use: intercultural, interracial, or something else?
I generally refer to my marriage – and speak of other relationships on this blog – in terms of cultural similarities or differences – mainly because cultural differences are where my interests lie. Thus, Aditya and I have an inter-cultural marriage, I write about the positives and negatives of intercultural relationships, and explore the values and beliefs of Aditya’s and my cultures. And yet, culture alone does not tell the whole story. Race does matter in our relationship – at least in how the rest of society views our marriage.
Let’s be clear: race as a brightline, biologically-determined distinct set of physical features does not exist. Yes, humans certainly vary genetically – and different populations display different physical traits such as skin tone – but there is no genetic basis for the common historical understanding of four or five distinct racial types. The lack of a modern genetic basis of “blackness” or “whiteness”, however, does not keep us modern people from categorizing others – typically without even thinking about the matter – into distinct groups based on physical appearance.
As I’ve discussed previously, this tendency to place things – including people – into simple, sharply delineated categories is a perfectly normal part of human nature. How we categorize others has changed over time, of course – ancient Greeks and Romans saw the fundamental categorization of humans by citizenship and political organization, for instance. In contrast, following strands of thought developed during the Western Age of Discovery, Americans today typically look first to race – or perhaps ethnicity – as a fundamental way to differentiate the people around us.
The concept of race, despite (or perhaps because of) its use in everyday speech and thought, is not well-defined or agreed upon. Indeed, I think one of the only things reasonably intelligent Americans can agree upon regarding race is that America is far from being a “post-racial” society. As Dr. Alan Goodman puts it:
Americans and much of the world’s population have been conditioned to think of race as a fuzzy jumble of behavior, culture, and biology: a deep and primordial mix of a bit of culture and a lot of nature. Thus, to say that race is not real in one way (as a shorthand for human biological variation) and is real in another way (as a way to group and track lived experience) is indeed confusing. Isn’t race simply real or not? …
The idea that race is a social construct derives in part from natural scientists … who maintain that race is a myth, or more precisely that the concept does not capture human diversity. It also derives in part from a misunderstanding of the notion of historical or social construction. Even though race was invented and made to seem real by social humans, and even though race makes little sense on the genetic level, this does not mean that it is not real in other ways. [It is a] mistake of thinking that because race is a social construct, race cannot have real effects. To the contrary, processes of racing, racializing, and practicing racism have enormous and powerful consequence for human wealth and health.
Thus, when Aditya and I walk down the street, clothed in our cool American hipster threads, there is nothing that marks us out as belonging to different cultures – but we still occasionally attract attention because others see us as being an interracial couple. Of course, they may also (correctly) assume that we are an intercultural or international couple as well – but those are not distinctions that are immediately obvious from a glance our way.
I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking (and reading) about interracial versus intercultural over the past few days. But before I continue in my mustings, I’d like to open it up to you all: do you think of your relationship primarily as an intercultural one? As an interracial one? International? Interethinc? Just a plain old relationship? How do you think society – family, friends, aquintences, strangers – view your relationship or marriage?
Related posts:
- Indian Parental Problems: When Your Intercultural or Interracial Relationship Is Suddenly an Issue
- Who is Affected by your Intercultural Relationship?
- What Counts as an Intercultural Relationship?
- Initial Family Resistance to your Intercultural Relationship
- Participate in an Interracial Marriage Study!
July 29th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Well, in my case, my wife and I are inter-racial but not really intercultural. In America, (almost) everyone's lineage is from somewhere else. My ancestors came from the UK and Germany two hundred years ago, hers more recently. She is American born and raised, but immigrant Indian parents certainly make our experiences growing up different.
Her name is Stacey and she looks very much the part of an NRI, but has only echoes of the indian experience. I guess there are as many variations on IRC as there are people and cultures!
July 29th, 2009 at 8:18 am
i'm a non practising catholic(hispanic white) and my fiance is a non-practising hindu (South-Indian) and we live in India (where i'm posted by my company). by looks of it it would seem like we're an inter-racial, inter-cultural couple but as far as we've been able to make sense of the equations of our relationship, we're lot less of an inter-cultural couple and a bit more of an inter-racial couple only because Race is something thats the first thing we're always asked about by people we meet every single day of our lives. the inter-cultural bit gets over-shadowed cos of this and so isn't so much in the limelight as the race.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I’ve never really thought of P and I as interracial, and I am not sure why that is. I certainly feel intercultural, particularly when we debate about eating salad versus daal-bhat for dinner, I’m struggling with Nepali language, or having fun in a salwaar-kameez for a festival celebration. I’m sure some of my family probably thinks of us as interracial rather than intercultural- simply because most of my family wouldn’t think of the term intercultural to begin with, but I definitely feel that the emphasis for them is on the difference between cultures- I never hear discussions in terms of race.
I wonder if this is because P’s ethnicity seems so ambiguous to a general audience… In the summer he is definitely much darker and looks more “ethnic” in skin-tone then myself (who- as someone of Irish ancestry, turn a lovely shade of lobster red, instead of a honey tan), but often times when we travel he is mistaken more as Japanese, Korean or Chinese rather than Indian or even Latin American (like some Nepalis tend to be classified).
Although I hate to say it, I wonder if the reason my family doesn’t think of us as different races is because of his lighter completion (P would consider himself “wheat colored,” whatever that means). I am sure if he were much darker I would hear my grandmother talk about this a lot, and perhaps the relationship would seem more shocking. I don’t know.
But in the end, I think of us as an intercultural couple. For P I think it’s even simpler- just a couple- why even classify?
July 29th, 2009 at 8:53 am
This is pretty much where I am with G (also American with immigrant Indian parents), but I don't usually classify us as inter-anything in everyday life. Interracial seems weird because G isn't that dark — if anything, people think he's Hispanic. And I found the cultural differences were greater before we were married because we couldn't live together or tell his parents when just the two of us went on vacations (something my BIL is dealing with right now, actually). I'm sure things will come up when we have kids, but right now it's just a marriage and my ILs are just my ILs and we occasionally have to do things like go to India and make late night/early phone calls to family and go to pujas and go to the temple. And we have cool Indian decorations in our house and we have cool Indian outfits and I make Indian food from time to time.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Sadly, I don't think a lot of people in the US think “interracial” unless you're talking about a white American marrying an African-American. That's often such a loaded situation for a lot of people in the US. I don't think anybody thinks about me and FI as “interracial” so much as “intercultural” or “interfaith.” That may be because the cultural differences are newer to family and friends or maybe because FI is relatively fair. (I've sometimes wondered what would happen with my parents' Southern, rural friends if FI were darker.) Frankly I didn't think about us as intercultural very much until FI's parents came to visit, because it's not such a huge issue for us when they're not here. When they're around, though, it just becomes much bigger – in terms of how I dress, Hindi v. English, etc. We're also preparing for our wedding, so that magnifies a lot of the issues. I sort of think that when they go back to India we'll just be back to being a couple until their next visit.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Thanks for another thoughtful post Gori. I'm not in a couple relationship any more but I think of the relationships I have with extended family as intercultural. I liked your example of wearing the same threads – people looking at me & my family would certainly see interracial cos of the colour but I think the difference in culture is very clear to all of us and to casual observers, & day to day that's what we are dealing with. I also tend to just say “mixed”, especially when talking about kids I use 'mixed heritage'. When I'm blogging I'll sometimes use all the different terms just so people find the blog.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I think of us as an international couple. It covers that we're inter-racial and inter-cultural, but doesn't have to mean both. We're NOT inter-faith.
I have absolutely no clue how family members and friends would describe us. I should mention–I don't usually say we're “international.” If I'm describing us online or something, I'll say he's Korean-Korean and I'm a white American. “Korean-Korean” because Americans are weird and if I say he's Korean, they usually assume Korean-American.
Colleen asked “why classify?” but race, culture, etc…these things DO matter in America, and to pretend that they don't is to ignore reality. (I have a whole rant about people who try not to be racist by saying they “don't see color,” but that's beyond the scope of this post, so I'll save it.) That doesn't mean I classify or categorize our relationship at every turn, but I sure think it does make a difference.
August 1st, 2009 at 4:47 am
Nottherebuthere maybe right…but the world is mixing…and a human is a human, no matter what u decide to label him/her. Inter-sexual relationships?
just kidding. Its a relationship between a man and a woman.[in ur case]. thats it. why complicate it, why create more differences?
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:06 am
I'm coming from an American viewpoint and realize that what I'm going to say may not apply in a country/culture without the history of America. I'm using the word race, but ethnicity or nationality would also fit. I choose to use “race” because I think that's still how most Americans think (rather than ethnicity or nationality):
Race is a defining characteristic just like gender is. My experience and life as a white woman in South Korea was nothing like my husband's experience as a Korean male, and it was nothing like my sister-in-law's experience as a Korean female. My race shaped my experience and it shaped how other people treated me and interacted with me and it shaped how I interacted with them. And now that we’re in the States together, his experience as as a Korean immigrant in the States is different than mine, or different than those of a Mexican immigrant, or different than those of an American-born ethnic Korean or…
In my experience most of the people who say “I don’t see race” are choosing to ignore race because they want to ignore the inequities that are still very real and very true and very present.
Your race is (usually) obviously out there, right in the open, on your skin. (Yes, some people can “pass” as something else, and whatever they're passing as impacts how others treat them.) It sure does influence how people interact with you and view you, whether they–or you–admit it or not.
I'm not creating differences. I'm recognizing them.
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I just did a blog post on this a few weeks ago when my husband and I were approched by a black man who was excited to meet “another inter-racial” couple. We have never thought of ourselves as interracial and although I think of us more as intercultural my husband told me a few days ago he has never even viewed us as that, he sees us just as a couple. So here we are, as a Canadian born Dutch girl and an Indian born Malyalee who enjoy each others background but don't focus on it
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I agree with NotHereButThere and think/feel that for most Americans, “interracial” is the first term that pops into the American observer's mind, not intercultural. The majority of Americans are simply not confronted with the issue enough to appreciate the difference between race and culture – although there IS a difference. In my opinion, race is a difference in skin tone, associated with the latidtude in whilch one was born.
I am a caucasian/American who, for a time, dated a man of Sikh faith. Although we originated from different 'races,' (i.e. different latitudes,) he was predomininantly American as far as culture was concerned, having been raised here in America since about the age of 10. We enjoyed similar past-times and he celebrated similar holidays.
Currently, I am dating a Hindu man of Hindu faith who has only been here for about 4 years. While being 'racially different,' we are also culturally different as he has only been in America about 4 years. Not only are our cultural customs different, but our racial customs are different, having been brought up in different environments. He does not celebrate American customs or traditions, but only those from the country/state in which he originated.
I do not think that it is racist to acknowledge cultural differences and when people see these differences, I think they are often interpreted as “racial differences.” It often does not occur to them that I, as an American (of primarily Swedish and German heritage), simply honor different cultural traditions than do my Hindu or Sikh companions.
Personally, I believe we are all humans, existing with cultural differences, and that is how I see my Hindu partner, A, and myself.
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 am
I feel like I view my relationship more in terms of being intercultural, because our physical differences aren't a big deal to me. After 3 years, I'm used to my s/o's brown skin. I'm pinkish white. We look different, we get that. But the physical differences are less noteworthy for us than the fact that we originate from 2 different cultures, different languages, different religions, etc. Nonetheless, what binds us together is the many, many ways that we're similar, and that's what takes precedence. I don't think I'd have the patience to be in a love relationship that required the efforts of constantly rising above and understanding differences – so in that regard, we really are a “plain old relationship”, and a happy one at that.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:39 am
I think it matters on what different element is coming together in a union – race or culture? I am Indian, my boyfriend is White. I call us Interracial, not intercultural, because culture isn't different with us. He even said he doesn't feel he is in an intercultural relationship because he has never felt a strain in that department. So whatever culture we both seem to embody and live our lives with is the same. However, it is very obvious our race isn't. so I call us Interracial.
If I had to describe my parents' and mine relationship – THAT would be intercultural.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Came here through Aurura's blog. I loved this post and several others you have written. Also loved the associated picture! I can only be a mute observer and wonder what it is that you all go through. It's one thing being a colored person and staying in the US. It's a wholly other thing to be married into a different culture that is traditionally conservative. It's a war we all want to win, when it comes to uniting people of the world, not just maintaining diplomatic relations between countries.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I beilieve that the complexity behind being part of an inter-cultural relationship is under-rated. Taking for granted that the other person will understand the situation in its humor or drama, simply because he/she speaks the same languages is an assumption that has gotten my partner and I into various arguments. It's both the charm and difficulty behind living with someone who has a completely different socio-politico-cultural background. It pushes both of us to think outside a box we often forget exists within the margins of any society. However, there are gaps that we cannot fill, resentments that never go away.The different steps one has to go through as an immigrant can create scars that no matter how hard the other person tries, will never be fully understood.
August 14th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Thanks for your blog, GoriGirl! I've been reading for awhile but am newish to commenting.
I actually think of my relationship as being interfaith… I'm a Christian and he's a Sikh. Since most of our real differences are a matter of faith articles (ie. his Gurus, my Christ), the title of intercultural or interracial doesn't feel right. We're both born and raised in Canada, attended the same schools, families moved in similar-but-separate circles… but one area that we differ visibly is in the matter of faith. It's also been the main point of contention for those opposed to our union, and there have been a number of those. Skin colour has proved to be mostly irrelevant, our defining culture is the same…so interfaith it is!
August 17th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Yes, there's definitely a difference between the sort of intercultural/interracial relationship you get with a first-generation immigrant (a term I recently realized Aditya applies to himself – I've never thought of him as an immigrant) and with a second-generation immigrant.
Incidentally, Aditya gets mistaken mostly as Greek or Italian when in Europe.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Hey mikezilla – I find it pretty interesting that you listed first the religious heritage, then the ethnicity of you and your fiance – interesting in a cool way, not “hmmm interesting way, if you know what I mean
. Do you feel like religion would be the biggest cultural difference, if you were practicing your faith? Or that religious background is the only major cultural difference?
I think that – because of the way race is the first thing other people notice, it's something that you just gotta be aware of (if only to mitigate others' first, faulty impressions).
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Hi, GoriGirl,
I usually say we are an “interfaith, intercultural” couple. I believe, unless I am making this up, that the interfaith came in after we had Dillon. Before I, like many Jews from the reform movement, went to services at the High Holy Days (that must be the equivalent of going only on Christmas?) But now I go fairly regularly, as Dillon has Hebrew school on Saturdays and I was asked in January to join our synagogue’s Board as the chair of our Parents committee. (Neither my husband or I speak Hebrew).
We really live both–intercultural and interfaith–I think how we describe ourselves (if at all) can depend on the setting or the person with whom we are speaking (separately or together).
Interesting, as I write this I think, well, Judaism has a clear set of customs and traditions that are written down, that one studies to learn.
So much of culture is absored by unconscious observation. So we are intercultural by nature of being born in different countries–but how do we tranfer all of this to Dillon, when he has so much exposure to the culture we live in?
Did I just say we should live in Brazil for a while?
August 27th, 2009 at 2:51 am
I don’t know how I missed this post, but it’s something I find really interesting.
I don’t usually describe my marriage as interracial only because of a class I took in college – Philosophy of Race, Class & Gender. We studied a few different theoretical constructions of race and since I was dating M at the time, I foudn it interesting that depending on the different theorist, South Asians could be classified as belonging to different races, and that under one schematic we were interracial and under another we weren’t.
I often say that “race is a social construct” but I don’t mean it in the way that “I don’t see color.” I only think that the idea that these categories have any implicit meaning in and of themselves is false; of course they have a societal meaning and the impact of racial classifications have real impact on EVERYone. But I think of racial classifications themselves as suspect and inaccurate descriptions of a whole host of different variables that mean different things according to time, place, history, culture, etc., etc..
And while I don’t know as much about India, I know that in Pakistan you can see racial differences between two people that are complete opposites, yet they’re both still Pakistani.
So I call us intercultural, and perhaps it is because of something another commenter touched on: my husband is a fairly recent arrival to America, or at least he was when I met him. Our lifestyle is still very much colored by his culture, and these are the differences that show up the most in our marriage.
I just feel like it’s not so much a racial identity that defines the gaps between us, it’s culture differences.
A very interesting topic nonetheless, and I’ve really enjoyed reading all the other viewpoints on this one.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Not to open a whole can of worms, but I believe South Asians are (or at least were) ‘technically’ classified as Caucasian, meaning the term interracial would not apply any more than it would in pairing a Northern European with someone from Southern or Eastern Europe.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
It depends on how you define race, though. Since “race” in common parlance is a social construct without any real science behind it, what counts as “interracial” depends on how society defines it. Go a hundred years or so back in the US, and there’s a sharp distinction between the majority group of WASPs and the more recent immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Go forward 20 or 30 years, and I bet many of the children or grandchildren of immigrants from Central and South America will be considered as “white” as Italians and Bulgarians are today.
From my experiences, most of America would look at the differences in skin tone between my husband and I and declare us an interracial couple, which means that we have to deal with everything (good and bad) that goes along with being identified as interracial.
September 15th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Totally agree, the whole notion of “race” is stupid, was just making the point using the U.S. Census Bureau’s archaic classifications. I’m Indian (Bengali, but born here), and my wife is of Swedish/English/German descent, and I’m sure people look at us the same way. (Don’t really care, because our kids are beautiful!) I guess if you want to get deep into it, look up the U.S. Supreme Court opinion (called something like U.S. v. Bhagat Singh) that goes into the whole Aryan/Dravidian thing, with racial ‘purity’ maintained by the caste system.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
P.S.: Great blog, BTW! I check it out intermittently, and it’s always good for a smile! Believe me, you’re not the only ones going through all of this stuff…
October 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Thanks – I’m glad you like it!
September 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I think you’re right, that I’m probably in an intercultural marriage rather than an interracial one, but it doesn’t feel that way. I’ve always considered myself as racially different more than culturally different than my husband. We both were born and grew up in the US, we both went to the same college and similar public high schools. Maybe if I grew up in India I’d feel differently, but right now I think the biggest difference is how I see myself as (outwardly) different than him.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Oh – I didn’t mean to imply that you must be in either an intercultural relationship or and interracial one! I think that both terms are useful, for different situations. If you think that your outwardly appearance is the biggest difference (either to yourself or the general public) then “interracial” might be the better terminology.
September 28th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Race as a scientific concept does exist…if you think in terms of social science. The biological differences are nil, but the social impact of race basically affects everything in a person’s life experience. As does class, gender, ability, sexual orientation, religion, passport, and a number of other factors, in terms of privilege vs. disadvantage. So I definately don’t subscribe to the “race doesn’t exist” catch phrase simply because it negates the experience of people who regularly experience being ‘racialized’ in their daily lives.
At the same time, I understand that outside of an American/Western context and in Pakistan, my husband has no ‘race’ because Pakistani is a nationali identity, not a race (though in America my kids are called “half-Pakistani and half-white”), and he is of Afghan as well as indigenous Indian ethnic background…and his classification as “Khan” and being of an Indian origin Urdu speaking family from a particular place functions similarly to a racial category in terms of identity and privilege. There are of course ethnic groups in Pakistan who are racialized by their background, like Pakhtoons, for example. And, in Pakistan, I am a clearly defined member of the white race.
I do think of my husband and I as in both an interracial and intercultural marriage because of this. My two children are “biracial” in common American parlance, but actually multiracial in terms of actual origin.
Incidentally, my mother is of white Catholic background and my father is of Jewish background. Although they are both white and American, their cultural and religious backgrounds are distinct and intersections of difference have effects on their marriage and relationship, so I definately see them as bicultural and interreligious, but not interracial. And as a product of those two cultures in my home, I see a lot of parallels between biracial people’s narratives that I read, and my own life experience.
Being a member of any particular socially defined race brings too much to the table in terms of everything we are, our baggage, our privilege, very often our world view, and so forth. So I cannot discount it.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I agree that race is not simply a concept one can toss by the way-side – it plays into too many social and cultural expectations and beliefs (and this, of course, varies depending on what country, culture, and subculture you’re living in). I always snort to myself when I hear people say that they “Don’t see race”.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Hate to break it to you, LuckyFatima, but Jewish does not qualify as white, by most American “white” definitions. (Don’t believe me, ask 10 random Southern white people, preferably Baptist.) So, you’re biracial too!
October 27th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
This may sound odd, but after seven years, I don’t think about this issue at all. My husband is just my husband, and our differences (I am white, he is Indian) only enter my consciousness when other people react to them, i.e., when a cashier ask us if we’re together after we’ve been standing half an inch apart and holding hands.
I suppose if I had to choose, I’d go with intercultural, because that’s what defines my life with him.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:33 am
anonymous: Well, I think Eastern European origin Jews in the USA are on somewhere near the ending boundaries of whiteness kind of like Greeks, Italians, Albanians, etc. and other whites with “darker” looks compared to other Euro-Americans, and who have distinct ethnic subcultures. I know that not all Ashkenazi Jews have “dark looks”, but I am personally rather phenotypically ‘Jewish looking’ so I can generalize and expect u know what I mean
. Probably several decades ago Ashkenazi Jews wouldn’t have been considered white by any white people. I single out European origin Jews because there are Jews from other places who would not be considered white under any circumstances— in common American parlance saying something is “Jewish” is usually defining it by Ashkenazi Jewish culture in a way that disincludes non-white Jews who are just as authentically Jewish. Barring some very observant Ashkenazi Jews who live in compartmentalized communities and dress in special religiously defined clothes, European origin American Jewry is inside whiteness today and does benefit from white privilege, as well, although Jews are still the target of prejudice. So Jews have a unique “ethnic” position in the USA. I think there would be a fringe element of white supremacists who would never consider Euro origin Jews as white, but by and large most people would. So I consider myself bicultural and not biracial for that reason. I also grew up around a lot of Southern Baptists so I know what you mean, too. I know that they would consider me “Other” but certainly more white than a person of color.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:47 am
You are right gorigirl race does not exist most of Europe is white where they hunt down gypsies from India who are Rajasthani and fled Moghul invasions. you are not Indian and 99% of India is it’s own race genetically speaking: South Asians are not European racially speaking. For example most whites do not have melanin in skin; South Asians do. So genetically there are differences, as well South Asians have different DNA susceptibilities as do Europeans (central nervous system disease from not having as much melanin in skin). White skin is different from Asian skin with regard to aging much faster as well and being ten times more susceptible to skin cancer. Your genetic race, your heritage, your religion is not South Asian based, try as you may to take credit for India’s indigenous race or culture. Even English or Celtic language has only existed since last couple thousand years while Sanskrit preddated it by several millenia. If you need proof, archaelogical does exist if you watch Dwaraka: A lost city of Krishna. You are not Indian, and your South Asian husband is not white. You have alot of time on your hands, and little knowledge. The knowledge you do have is biased towards your ridiculous opinons and none on genetics nor facts.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:49 am
Origin of North Europeans Video helps to explain where your race comes from Since you claim or attempt to be “educated” let us see if a truly educated person is capable of the truth and knowledge
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:59 am
Your questions about “do you see your interracial relationship as an intercultural one or interethnic one” have to do with your heritage not being South Asian so one can see why it is difficult for you to understand your heritage, your culture, your race, your ethnicity are not from India atleast not for your specific preceding centuries in your specific lineage. In Ireland, your culture is eating bland meat stews daily several times a day and sometimes with horse meat and going to pubs regularly (specifically forbidden in Hindu South Asian Vedas and passed since five millenia) and going to pubs. Sorry gorigirl but that is not the culture in India. Do you think your Irish heritage and culture and religion and ethnicity are the same as South Asians? When did Ireland follow Hinduism and all relevant aspects from the foods to the marriages to the jewlery, ancient temples, dress, language in 90% of population?
TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION: SINCE none of these things are relevant to IRELAND NOR CREATED IN IRELAND, it is AN INTER CULTURAL RACIAL ETHNIC RELIGIOUS RELATIONSHIP. The HINDU VEDIC WEDDING DRESS did not originate in Ireland. Christianity alone is new to 3000 years after Hinduism and 700 years after Buddhism. I hope I answered your question.