What Are Marriage Banns?

[sbiondo257]

What exactly are marriage banns in Sicily? Are they like days the couple can't get married? Like on a holiday or something?

[AngelaGrace56]

Marriage Banns (known as notificazioni, pubblicazioni, memorandum) were documents which declared a couple’s intention to marry. The reason for these documents, which were posted on the door of the Town Hall, was to ensure that there were no known impediments to the marriage taking place, e.g. a spouse may have already been married.

If one of the prospective spouses was from another town, then the banns would also be posted in that town as well. Marriage Banns are a really good backup when you can’t find a Marriage Record. They may sometimes also tell you a little bit more about the parents such as as age and occupation. I usually look at both the Marriage Bann and the Marriage Record (a lot of the times though, they give the same info.)

Angela

[sbiondo257]

Ah okay! This explains a lot so thanks for the help!

[adelfio]

Usually 3 weekend in a row thats why there are different dates in the banns

Marty

Hi Angela how are you?