Burgundians - Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship is reckoned bilaterally, monogamy is the only legal marital relation, and among farm families patrilocal residence is often practiced. Overall, inheritance is equitable within the senior surviving generation. Inheritance of the farm is usually by the eldest male sibling, but on occasion (absence or inappropriateness of senior male siblings) younger sons or daughters inherit and (in the latter case) marriages are uxorilocal. The size of farm families has been greatly reduced in this Century for two reasons: the toll on three successive generations of war (the Prussian War of 1870, and World Wars I and II) and industrialization. No longer is a large familial workforce either necessary or desirable, and birth spacing and control is clearly practiced, despite the nominal Roman Catholicism of the French population (overall French population growth rate is 1.7 percent). Having children is considered highly desirable in the society as a whole, and, if not indulged, children are certainly given as many advantages as the family can afford. Christenings are as important for designating godparents as for celebrating a new member of the community.