Palu'e - Marriage and Family



Marriage. Marriage is effected by the exchange of goods following extensive formal negotiations. The wife-taking group ( hata wedda, "sister people") exchanges conceptually male goods (pigs, ivory tusks, golden ear pendants, money) with the wife-giving group ( hata naja, "brother people") for conceptually female goods (harvest goods, household goods, textiles, ivory arm rings, ancestral beads, or land). Payments by wife takers are effected in three major stages. The schedule of payment varies according to domain. Obligations for support in everyday life and ceremonial exchange between wife-giving and wife-taking groups remain binding over a minimal period of two generations. The groups involved are primarily of the spouse's natal house and to the houses of its kunu. Additionally, there are throughout the island individual houses of quasi-consanguineal kin status ( huju-bako, "bundle and heap") who traditionally assist in payment of goods. If a given house lacks marriageable women, the daughters of huju-bako houses can act as classificatory substitutes. For the purposes of a specific marriage, another kunu of the same domain may also contribute to the payments. This form of assistance is always reciprocated and can lead to lasting ties. Kunu fission can occur when individual houses repeatedly do not contribute to a given marriage. Such houses may fuse with a different kunu on the basis of repeated contributions to its marriages. Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage, termed "marriage of the afterbirth" ( wai kuni-laja ), is traditionally prescribed. Under Catholic and local government pressure the prescribed categories have become partially classified together with a proscribed category, which includes siblings and parallel cousins. Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage can now only be contracted after a lapse of a minimum of two generations. Marriage is kunu-exogamous and mostly domain-endogamous. A given kunu usually has a number of wife-giving kunu. Every three to four generations, the direction of alliance is reversed. Polygyny is permitted but infrequent. Divorce is mostly initiated by the husband and effected by returning the wife to her parents. In some cases part of the bride-price is then returned to the wife-taking group. The frequency of divorce is low. Postmarital residence is patrilocal. As long as no goods have been exchanged, the groom resides with the parents of the bride. In such cases children are affiliated with their mother's natal house.


Domestic Unit. A given house (nua) may shelter parents, several married male siblings and their spouses and children as well as any unmarried siblings. A nua averages five to six persons. A married male sibling, his spouse, and their unmarried children constitute a separate "hearth" ( labo ). Food and most resources are shared by the members of one labo. In cases where a labo has been established for several generations, ritual activities of the house may be carried out separately by each labo. Scarceness of living space can lead to the construction of a separate though ritually dependent dwelling.

Inheritance. Inheritance is predominantly patrilineal. In the transference of tangible and intangible property from father to sons, the firstborn son is generally favored. Objects associated with one gender can be passed on to others of the same gender. Objects related to agricultural magic are handed down matrilineally upon completion of bride-wealth payments.

Socialization. On the third day after childbirth the mother ceremonially presents the infant to the village community. The child is given an ancestral name and is ritually incorporated into the house by cutting the forelock and reciting prohibitions and qualities specific to the house and to the child's gender. During the ceremony a child of the opposite sex and, depending on its gender, a member of a traditional wife-giving or wife-taking group, is symbolically married to it. Subsequent stages of socialization are not ceremonially marked but occur gradually and informally. For young men an important threshold toward adulthood is crossed at the age of 12 to 15 years by participating for the first time in seasonal migration. A similar threshold for women is represented by the informal allocation of a garden at the age of 5 to 7 years. In the past these thresholds were crossed at a more advanced age and were marked by the wearing of a first loincloth.


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