Thursday, June 19, 2008  Ye'kwana Marriage and Motherhood  (This
young mother is expecting her fourth child. She has two living
children, having lost one to malaria.  Amanda of Baby Bangs had
a lot of questions for me in response to the post I did about
Ye'kwana marriage customs. I'll try to answer them.  She asked;
"I need to know more about the married couples giving their
firstborn children to the mom's parents to raise. So does the
child think of its mom as its sister? Do the moms have a hard
time doing this? Do they stay involved in its life? So many
questions!"  When a newly married couple has a child, tradition
dictates that the child be given to the mother's parents. The
child will know who is it's mother but the grand parents have
final say in all matters. When that grand child marries, the
son-in-law will move in with the grand parents.  Giving up the
child is not as terrible as it may at first sound when you
realize the mother and her husband will usually live with her
parents for several years and