Cousins' Bonding, Marrying Cousins

Getting to know your cousins/close relatives up to the second and third degree is very crucial.

My childhood is one happy memory that is indelible. You become closer to the maternal or paternal cousins depending on the bonding. I love my maternal cousins, but I became closer with my paternal cousins because I  spent my early education and playing time with them. 

Once you reach high school, you tend to be serious in studies and less of the playtime. This was before the advent of the Internet.

The Internet has its advantages like constant communication regardless of distance, but we seem to be content with emailing or texting and less face-to-face interacting.Communication becomes less personal.

Travel before was arduous because of the bumpy roads, less infrastructures. Where before it took us more that two hours to get to our destination, now it is more accessible in less time.

That is why every time we cousins met, it was joyous. This demonstrates "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

We see each other during funerals, birthdays, or reunions.

I know of a family who did not know their first cousins/close relatives for one reason or another. The son sought his father's help to meet his girlfriend's family and ask for her hand in marriage. When near the girl's house, the father said that he knew the place. Lo and behold, the house is his sister's!  You can already conclude the result of the visit. No marriage took place!

Bible verses on marrying close relatives

Leviticus 18:6-16  “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. ...