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Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan
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Historical SummaryThe shyness mentioned here and the avoidance in general are therefore not specifically sexual but are primarily embarrassments in the face of a critical and transitional situation. Agitation is involved in any sudden change in habit systems, and in the present situation the relinquishment of the girl will be accompanied by forms of resistance, especially on the part of the mother, through a period of readjustment and until certain formalities, services, and attentions from the groom have reconciled her. Between mother-in-law and son-in-law the relation frequently takes the form of total temporary avoidance, which may persist as a permanent habit. But the avoidance may cease if he is a good provider, if he makes gifts to his parents-in-law, if he has distinguished himself notably, in connection with sickness or a bereavement which softens everybody, etc. Very frequently the man is fully accepted on the birth of the first child. Sometimes he is adopted as a child if his wife dies. From one African tribe it is reported that the appreciation demanded by the mother-in-law is cohabitation with the groom before he marries her daughter, but in this society this is not to be regarded from its sexual aspect but as a recognition of the mother, and, so to speak, an inclusion of her in a social relationship:
Among the Nile Dinka, after the first Child is born the father will come to see it (as usual among the Dinka, the birth of the first child takes place in the hut of its maternal grandparents). The mother-in-law will kill a sheep and make beer, and she will put a piece of meat into the mouth of her son-in-law. After this they may see each other and speak face to face. The father-in-law will present him with a pipe of tobacco and henceforth they may treat one another as father and son. A similar custom is probably observed by the Ngok, for we were told that at the end of three years a man could give his mother-in-law some cows, after which the two might converse together. The Bor Dinka did not know of such a custom.1
[Among the Crow Indians] when a man’s wife has died, the deceased woman’s mother may absolve both herself and her son-in-law from the customary tabu by addressing him as her son. Thereafter the relationship between them is like that of mother and son, and is not dissolved even if the man should remarry.2
[Among the Blackfoot] if the son-in-law is ill, she may, in case of need, care for him and speak to him; upon his recovery the tabu is considered as permanently removed. Each may call on the other when in great danger, after which they need not be ashamed to meet. Sometimes when a man went out to war or was missing, his mother-in-law would register a vow that if he returned alive, she would shake hands with him and give him a horse and feel no more shame at meeting. The son-in-law may remove the tabu by presenting a few captured guns or horses. Some informants claim that four such presentations were necessary, after which his mother-in-law would take him by the hand and thus remove the tabu. She may receive support from her son-in-law but, even with the tabu removed, must not live in the same tipi with him, a small one being set up outside. It is observable that the presents for removing the tabu bear some analogy to those made the father-in-law during the first months of married life and may be genetically related to that practice.3
[Among the Cree] although the mother-in-law and father-in-law tabus were formerly very strong, there was one occasion when they might be temporarily lifted. When a man returned from a successful raid, he blackened his face with charcoal and went directly to his parents-in-law, told them what he had done, gave them part or all of his spoils, and, beginning with his father-in-law, blackened their faces. This was a great honor to them.4
[Among the Wahehe] the bridegroom has first to sleep with his mother-in-law, when he may cohabit with the daughter. A case happened here lately where the marriage was broken off because the mother of the bride (who was a Wahehe) wanted the bridegroom to sleep with her first, but he, being a Mgogo, refused.1
1Seligman, C.G.n/an/an/an/a and B.n/aZ.n/an/an/an/a, , 166 (George Routledge and Sons. By permission).
2 Lowie, R. H. "Social Life of the Crow Indians," Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anth. Pap., 9: 213.
3 Wissler, C., "Social Organization and Ritualistic Ceremonies of the Blackfoot Indians," Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anth. Pap., 7: 12–13.
4 Skinner, A., "Political Organization, Cults and Ceremonies of the Plains-Ojibway and Plains-Cree Indians," Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anth. Pap., 11: 522.
1 Cole, H., "Notes on the Wagogo of German East Africa," Jour. Anth. Inst., 32: 312.
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Chicago:
"Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan," Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed July 12, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=BX6LCSB3JE7PT61.
MLA:
. "Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan." Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 12 Jul. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=BX6LCSB3JE7PT61.
Harvard:
, 'Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan' in Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 12 July 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=BX6LCSB3JE7PT61.
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