Nowadays we are
witnessing changes in the attitude and behaviour about marriage, cohabitation, divorce,
children out of wedlock, sexuality. We are living in an age when together with
the growing number of consensual couples, an expansion trend is recorded of
children born illegitimate, and divorce is just a routine, performed as
naturally as marriage itself. This tendency is a growing one also in Romania, as far
as the evolution of illegitimacy, divorce and the cohabiting relationships are concerned,
even if for example the divorce rate is lower than in other European countries.
There are multiple causes of the present situation, those being different from
one region to another depending on the psychology, behaviour and customs of
communities. In order to find answers to these phenomena, we have to
investigate first what happened in the past.
Our research refers
to the 19th century in time, and in space it generally extends to Odorhei
District, over which partially overlap four ecclesiastical administrative units
with different borderlines: the Roman Catholic District of Odorhei, the
Reformed Diocese of Odorhei and the two Unitarian Deaneries having their
centres in Odorhei, respectively in Cristur. We are researching the evolution
of illegal relationships, illegitimacy and divorce, focusing on sexual
deviations, adultery, cohabitation and children out of wedlock as being the
cause of family disintegration. We are attempting not only a quantitative
approach to the problem, but a qualitative analysis at the same time, directing
attention to the common man who can not be detached from the world he lives in
and the mentalities of the cohabiting group. We are planning an introspection
to the most hidden intimacies of the individual’s life and monitoring the changes
in the set of values and in the morality of the population studied.
