Basques - Kinship



Kin Groups and Descent. The urban Basque family is of the nuclear variety, maintaining its own apartment. In the southern ecological zone the nuclear family also predominates in rural districts. On the baserriak the stem family is the basic social form. Kinship is reckoned bilaterally; there is an Ego-centrically defined kindred but it is important only at the marriage or death of the defining member. Neighbors, usually unrelated, play a key role in rural Basque society. One's lenbizikoatia, or "first of the neighborhood," is the household of first recourse in a crisis. The larger auzoa, or neighborhood, is the source of social intimacy and support.

Kinship Terminology. Eskimo-type terms are used. Sibling terms differ according to whether the speaker is male or female.


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