Re: Kinship terminology

draqa kinship revolves around the mother:

kawi    tribe/village member (most are related by blood in some way)
beas    mother ; female ancestor
axba    grandmother ; (also 'The Earth')
bo'o    sibling (by same mother)
sawe    mid-wife (person who helped birth you- chosen by mother during
        pregnancy; male or female; could even be your blood father - but
        you probably wouldn't know it)
batu    immediate offspring ; (usually 'infant')
twi     offspring (regardless of generation)
ewu     mother's sibling -or- (female) sibling's child
owas    grandmother's sibling -or- (female) sibling's grandchild
tiowa   any relative not immediately (1st generation) descended from
        or sibling to mother or grandmother ; (also members of other
        races, including animals)


Except for 'beas', 'axba' and 'bo'o' these terms refer to relationships
rather than people.  The basic draqa unit (there is no term for "family"),
is a mother and her children.  One's siblings are one's most important
peer group.  Siblings are raised together by their grandmother, but live
with their mothers; they are seen as "belonging" to the grandmother.  When
a woman has children, she is built a home by her siblings. Males and
childless females usually remain in the mother's home until she passes on.
The head of the household then becomes the oldest remaining child.  This
is how males usually become household-heads.  Mothers are attributed a
high emotional significance and import, of course; but it is really the
Grandmother who "rules" a family.  This produces an interesting and highly
fruitful inter-generational dynamic.



a beawan jin,
.yasmin.