Kin Groups and Descent. Nuclear-family households are predominant, but extended households are also wide-spread, and extended-family groups act as units in politics, business, and social affairs. Separate but related nuclear families attend christenings, weddings and, above all, funerals. The descent system is bilateral; people use both the paternal and maternal surnames.
Kinship Terminology. Tico Spanish sibling-cousin terminology is of the Eskimo type: the same terms are used for cousins on the father's and the mother's side, and cousins are differentiated from siblings.
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