Sororate marriage is a marriage custom in which a husband marries or takes as partner his wife's sister, typically after his wife's death or if she has proven infertile. Anthropologists read the custom as a way of preserving the alliance and the marriage contract already established between the two families rather than dissolving it.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Held Differently
Paired customs for replacing a deceased or unavailable spouse with their sibling: sororate replaces a wife with her sister, levirate replaces a husband with his brother.
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