Tsimihety - Marriage and Family

Marriage. The dominant form of marriage that is followed today is virilocal, often patrilocal. A bride-price ( miletry ) of up to five head of cattle and money is usually paid. This custom has been modified, however, by the popularity of trial marriage ( diajofa ), in which a couple lives together for a year before the miletry is paid. The woman brings a dowry ( meomeo ), which furnishes the house and remains her property. Probably a large percentage of couples now settle without ceremony or miletry. Divorce is informal and immediate. Although polygamy and polyandry are permitted, instances are rare. Levirate is practiced according to circumstance.

Domestic Unit. Villages are small and cooperative. Households (ankohonana, fehitry ) are based on—but not limited to—the nuclear family. Neighboring households whose heads are close kin (brothers, father/sons) formerly worked and ate together as a unit ( jao ), but this custom is less frequently observed nowadays. Larger villages are divided into sections ( fizarana ) that are loosely based on the common foko identity of male heads of households. Work groups ( asareky ) are loosely based on these sections.

Inheritance. Land is generally the common property of ancestors and their descendants and is not owned individually. The right to use land that is continuously worked may be claimed by patrilineal descendants ( zazalava ), but this right lapses if the land is left idle. Cattle are owned individually; most are sacrificed in a commemorative feast at the owner's death. Personal items (clothes, tools, plate, cutlery) are buried or disposed of. Inheritance is negligible.

Socialization. Except for blows struck in anger, corporal punishment is seldom seen. Relative age—hence, respect for elders—and male precedence are the principal practices and instruments of socialization. Males and females are generally separated.