Phenomenology of Family Religious Rituals and its Impact on Social Relationships of Couples and Families in Three Types of Spouse Selection

Religious rituals have always been practiced in all societies with specific beliefs and have had positive effects. This article aims to explore women's lived experience of the role of religious rituals in reducing family violence in three types of spouse selection. The method of study is qualitative with phenomenological approach. The statistical sample included the women residing in Kermanshah, Iran between 17-40 years old. The subjects were selected using the judgmental purposive sampling method. A semi-structured in-depth interview was used to collect the required data. The results of the interviews with 50 participants (emotional marriages: 13, satisfied regulated marriages: 18, and forced marriages: 19) were categorized. Five main themes were extracted from the data of this study: 1) women's experience of family violence against them, 2) women's response to violence against them, 3) women's feelings during religious rituals, 4) husbands’ reaction after religious rituals and 5) the effects of the ritual aspect of religion.