Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 316
Figure 20a also shows that a generation mate (skmama) always came from outside the
extended family. We place an ideal extended family consisting of the seven brothers and their
houses in the centre, and we see how the seventh born (7) was served first, followed by his
remaining junior brothers (2-6). According to our understanding, the same senior brother (1)
also ideally acted as generation mate for the deceased grandfathers and great grandfathers
from outside his own extended family. We already know that a skmama as a family priest was
also called zal jije, but have used skmama in our illustration because here we do not
differentiate between the sacrifice to a deceased grandfather (jije) and a deceased great
grandfather (wuje).
Figure 20a: The spatial dimension of senior brothers and generation mates serving the
three ancestor stones in the houses of their agnatic kin as part of a local group
The above scheme does not show the exact spatial distribution of houses, but for better
visualisation we have placed the sons of one father closer together and encircled them as a
group to mark them as three schematic neighbourhoods of brothers. In reality a hamlet (khuÉ—i
luwa) is sure to have consisted of houses of other kindred living in the same neighbourhood.
It might also not always have been a generation mate (skmama) who was a family priest (zal
jije), but another senior person from the same exogamous lineage. The core principle however
was that the person would ideally have been a generation mate of the deceased grandfather or
great grandfather. However, nothing was reportedly written in stone, and a generation mate
acting as zal jije (custodian for the deceased grandfather) could be replaced with another
person if the family was not happy. This underpins the concept of being on good terms with a
zal jije as perhaps the most important principle, and that the generation mate rule was only the
ideal.
Because patrilocal residence was obligatory, a wife came from outside the exogamous lineage
section (kambarte) and through marriage became a member of her husband's patrilineage.
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