Nicobarese - Marriage and Family

Nicobarese select their own partners, but parental opinion of a prospective match carries some weight. There are no endogamous or exogamous groups other than the immediate Nuclear family unit, and both cross and parallel cousins are appropriate marriage partners. Attitudes toward premarital sex are benign; marriages are often the simple regularization of a longstanding sexual relationship. Age at marriage is usually 20 to 28 for men, 16 to 20 for women. Marriage ritual involves the shaving of the couple's heads, after which the marrying pair don white clothes and are fed a meal of roast pig. A menluana then takes them to the sea for a ritual swim, and upon their return to the village there is a great feast. The pair goes into hiding for four to seven days, and then they return to the community as a married couple. There is no stigma attached to illegitimacy, and divorce seldom if ever occurs. Nicobarese are now monogamous, though they once were not. Widow remarriage is common. After marriage, the couple goes to live with whichever of their two joint-family groups has the fewer members.

Inheritance. Property is nominally vested in the joint Family. Personal goods are not generally inherited, because they are buried with their owner upon his or her death.

Socialization. Traditionally, the child would not be named until it began to walk, when a naming ceremony and feast would be held. Today naming will often occur earlier, and among Christian Nicobarese a small feast is held at the infant's baptism. Children are highly valued by the Nicobarese, and both parents are engaged in their upbringing. Teaching is done by example and by admonition. Formal schools have been available on Car Nicobar for quite some time now, and in recent years have spread to some of the other islands.