Ternatan/Tidorese - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Because descent is cognatic, there are no clear-cut kin groups. On closer inspection, however, various lineages or descent groups are to be distinguished, without having a name; they go back to some ancestor who held an office important enough to still be remembered. Lineages or descent groups derive their status and identity from offices held by their members in state organizations or in the organizations of the religious community. The descent groups are neither exogamous nor endogamous. Succession and inheritance of rights are by preference but not necessarily in the male line. The position of an individual is not exclusively conditioned by descent in the patriline. To be sure, one belongs in the first place to one's father's house, but one also has relations with and rights in one's mother's house.

Kinship Terminology. The kinship terminology is of the Hawaiian type.