Waorani - Marriage and Family

Marriage. Bilateral cross-cousin marriage is prescribed, and marriages are arranged, often secretly. Polygyny was common prior to contact, and in a few cases, polyandry was practiced. Today monogamy has become dominant, and since the 1970s a few intermarriages with Lowland Quichua have occurred. Although divorce was rare, particularly in the face of a scarcity of eligible mates, it was an unceremonious matter; one of the spouses simply left to live elsewhere.

Domestic Unit. The extended household traditionally included several generations and tended toward uxorilocality. Within the household, every nuclear family maintained its own fire and hung its hammocks in one section of the dwelling. Women married to the same man also maintained their own fires and cooked separately. Since contact there has been a drift toward nuclear households.

Inheritance. Because Wao possessions were traditionally few and land was never owned, inheritance rules were never strictly defined.

Socialization. Children remain physically very near their mothers until they are 7 or 8 years old, at which time they begin to make forays into the forest with peers. Infants are carried continuously in a sling at the mother's breast and fed at the first sign of fussing. An older sibling often cares for younger siblings and always defers to them. Intersibling rivalry or conflict is almost unknown. Instruction is informal and usually mild. Parents are extremely permissive, punishing only when the child is in danger or endangers another. Even then, punishment is mild, with stinging netties being brushed lightly over the legs or body; traditionally, a child would never be struck.