Gahuku-Gama - Marriage and Family

Marriage. While a central theme of Gahuku culture is that the "female principle" is antagonistic and dangerous to men, traditionally a man was considered as nothing, and could never become a full member of the community, without a wife who would bear him children. In the context of male initiation ceremonies, a group of males (at about 15 years of age) would be formally betrothed to girls (of about the same age) selected by lineage elders. Upon betrothal, a girl moved to her fiancé's village and into his mother's house. A newly betrothed male was secluded for a period of weeks while adult men gave him instruction, following which he was enjoined to avoid his betrothed completely for up to seven years before cohabitation could occur. During that period he would engage in institutionalized courtship in friendly villages, trying to persuade other girls to elope with him. Not uncommonly, betrothals were broken off when the girl was considered to be maturing too quickly or when she ran off with an older male. When the time for cohabitation arrived, the groom shot an arrow into his bride's thigh, they shared a meal in public, and she was ceremonially conducted to her new house in her husband's village. Like betrothals, few marriages were Permanent, ending with the wife's desertion or litigation initiated by the husband or his lineage mates suing for the return of the bride-wealth (most commonly because of childlessness, which was invariably blamed on the woman). Polygyny, although allowed, was practiced by relatively few men. Under the influence of missions, schools, and other agents of change, long betrothals, if not arranged marriages, are now a thing of the past.

Domestic Unit. Given the belief that women were dangerous to men, male children were inducted into the men's house at about 10 years of age, where they lived with all initiated males of the village. The traditional household, then, consisted of a woman, her unmarried daughters, and young sons. A man's cowives, between whom relations were almost invariably hostile, were housed separately. While husbands and wives occasionally worked together in gardens, sexual segregation was extensive. Nowadays, however, married couples increasingly share residences, with the nuclear family forming the typical household.

Inheritance. Land claims of the deceased reverted to other members of the lineage or clan, and movable property Typically was claimed by surviving male relatives.

Socialization. Children have always been at the center of adult attention in Gahuku culture, but men traditionally had little to do with male children until they moved into the men's house. Thus, early child rearing was left almost exclusively in the hands of women and older siblings. Beginning at about age 5, males underwent a series of initiation Ceremonies, gradually being placed under the authority and supervision of the adult male community.