Central Yup'ik Eskimos - Marriage and Family



Marriage. Traditionally, marriage was encouraged Between descendants of cross cousins. Most marriages were monogamous, with occasional polygamy, and serial marriages were common. Before the advent of Christianity, the Marriage ceremony consisted of the bride serving food to her new husband in the men's house while wearing newly made clothing presented to her by the family of the groom. Duolocal Residence was the norm. A woman raised her daughters in the house where she was born, while at age five her sons went to live in the men's house with their father. When a young man was married, he moved into the men's house of the father of his bride while the woman remained in her mother's house where she in turn would raise her children. Traditionally Marriages were dissolved easily by either spouse failing to provide for and/or moving away from their partner. Missionaries Report that a number of "trial marriages" ending in divorce were usually preliminary to a stable union.

Domestic Unit. Aboriginally, men lived in a communal men's house while the women and children resided in separate dwellings. The nuclear family lived together in the same house only at the fish or hunting camp. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, missionaries worked to replace this residential separation. Today, the nuclear family household predominates, but owing to increasing costs of maintaining a household as well as increasing rates of illegitimacy, three-generation households are also common.

Inheritance. Traditionally the goods of the deceased were either left at the grave site or distributed among members of the community outside the immediate family of the deceased. The turn-of-the-century missionaries did their best to discourage this practice, and at present property is retained by the deceased's immediate family.

Socialization. Contrary to the general perception of Eskimo child rearing as permissive, Yup'ik children from their earliest years were carefully trained in a multitude of prescriptions and proscriptions circumscribing culturally appropriate thought and deed. These they learned through the observation of adult behavior as well as through countless lessons introduced by their adult care givers. Failure on the child's part to follow the rules was and still is met with teasing, ridicule, and finally the threat of abandonment. At present, as in the past, child rearing discourages overt and direct expressions of hostility and aggression to avoid injuring the mind of the offender. With the recent emphasis on public education, Socialization is increasingly in the hands of nonnative teachers in the public schools.


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