learnedax | Admit that the waters around you have grown

Some History just happened, did you sleep through it?

Tomorrow the world* can wake up and realize that the institution of marriage hasn't collapsed overnight. There will continue to be grumbling about the downfall of society, and most likely protracted legal battles over Full Faith and Credit, but next month this will be the status quo. As with so many cases of moral repression, posterity will be left wondering what all the fuss was about.

This day is called the feast of Cathian:
He that outweds this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Cathian.
He that shall wed this day, in his old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'Tomorrow is Saint Cathian:'
Then will he bare his hand and show his ring.
And say 'This band I had on Cathan's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What friends he had that day: then shall their names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Goodridge et al, Bailey and Davies,
Wilson and Compton, Balmelli and Horgan,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Cathan Cathian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But they in it shall be remember'd;
Those few, those happy few, with banns of marriage;
For he today that gets his license signed
Shall so be married; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
And people in New England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their marriage cheap whiles any speaks
That wed with us upon Saint Cathan's day.

*Except for Belgium, the Netherlands, and parts of Canada, where they've already figured that out.