What the Seasons Tell Us. The Monthly Movement of Marriages, Economic Modernization, and Secularization in the Netherlands, 1810-1940

This study focuses on the seasonal pattern of marriages in seven provinces of the Netherlands from 1810 to 1940. We ask whether the prevalence of May as the preferred marriage month was dimin­ishing when industrialization changed the course of workload over the year. And if so, when did this occur, and were there differences between the regions? Given the ban on marriages during Lent and Advent, by studying the number of marriages during these months (approximated as March and De­cember), we can determine which provinces adhered most to the religious rules, and how this pattern developed over... Mehr ...