Exam 2

Question 1

Descent

Answer 1

Kinship figured “downwards” from grandparents to parents to children to grandchildren etc. In many societies, descent is an important principle for distribution of inheritance and definition of group membership

Question 2

Descent Group

Answer 2

Any kin-group whose members share a direct line of descent from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor.

Question 3

Unilineal

Answer 3

Descent traced exclusively through either the male or the female line of ancestry to establish group membership; sometimes called unilateral descent.

Question 4

Matrilineal

Answer 4

Descent traced exclusively through the female line of ancestry to establish group membership.

Question 5

Patrilineal

Answer 5

Descent traced exclusively through the male line of ancestry to establish group membership.

Question 6

Bilateral

Answer 6

Descent traced equally through father and mother’s ancestors; associating each individual with blood relatives on both sides of the family.

Question 7

Ambilineal

Answer 7

descent provides a measure of flexibility in that an individual has the option of affiliating with either the mother’s or father’s descent group.

Question 8

Kindred

Answer 8

A grouping of blood relatives based on bilateral descent; includes all relatives with whom EGO shares at least one grandparent, great-grandparent, or even great-great-grandparent on his or her father’s and mother’s side.

Question 9

Lineage

Answer 9

A unilineal kin-group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago and in which relationships among members can be exactly stated in genealogical terms.

Question 10

Clan

Answer 10

An extended unilineal kin-group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological.

Question 11

Phratry

Answer 11

A unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether or not they really do.

Question 12

Eskimo

Answer 12

Kinship reckoning in which the nuclear family is emphasized by specifically identifying the mother, father, brother, and sister, while lumping together all other relatives into broad categories such as uncle, aunt, and cousin; also known as the lineal system.

Question 13

Iroquois

Answer 13

Kinship reckoning in which a father and a father’s brother are referred to by a single term, as are a mother and a mother’s sister, but a father’s sister and a mother’s brother are given separate terms. Parallel cousins are classified with brothers and sisters, whereas cross cousins are classified separately but not equated with relatives of some other generation.

Question 14

Hawaiian

Answer 14

Kinship reckoning in which all relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to by the same term; also known as the generational system.

Question 15

Fictive Kin

Answer 15

Kinship between the child’s parents and the sponsor who becomes a ritual coparent, or compadre. Historically common in South Europe and Latin America, such quasi-kinship is

Question 16

Incest Taboo

Answer 16

The prohibition of sexual relations between closely related individuals.

Question 17

Consanguineal Kin

Answer 17

Biologically related relatives, commonly referred to as blood relatives.

Question 18

Affinal Kin

Answer 18

Biologically related relatives, commonly referred to as blood relatives.

Question 19

Endogamy

Answer 19

Marriage within a particular group or category of individuals.

Question 20

Exogamy

Answer 20

Marriage outside a particular group or category of individuals.

Question 21

Marriage

Answer 21

A culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws. Such marriage rights and obligations most often include, but are not limited to, sex, labor, property, childrearing, exchange, and status.

Question 22

Monogamy

Answer 22

A marriage form in which both partners have just one spouse.

Question 23

Polygamy

Answer 23

A marriage form in which one individual has multiple spouses at the same time.

Question 24

Polyandry

Answer 24

A marriage form in which a woman is married to two or more men at the same time; a form of polygamy.

Question 25

Polygyny

Answer 25

A marriage form in which a man is married to two or more women at the same time; a form of polygamy.

Question 26

Marriage by proxy (Fictive Marriage)

Answer 26

A marriage form in which a proxy is used as a symbol of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs. One major reason for such a marriage is to control rights to property in the next generation.

Question 27

Ghost Marriage

Answer 27

In several traditional African societies—most famously among Nuer cattle herders of South Sudan—a woman may marry a man who has died without heirs. In such situations the deceased man’s brother may become his stand-in, or proxy, and marry a woman on his behalf. As in the case of the marriage custom of the sororate discussed previously, the biological offspring will be considered as having been fathered by the dead man’s spirit. Recognized as his legitimate children, they are his rightful heirs. Because such spouses are absent in the flesh yet believed to exist in spirit form

Question 28

Double Proxy Marriage

Answer 28

A double-proxy marriage is a marriage where neither party is present. When a couple is unable to be present for their own wedding, yet need the fact of their marriage documented, proxies may stand in on their behalf to sign the marriage license.

Question 29

Arranged Marriage

Answer 29

a marriage planned and agreed to by the families or guardians of the bride and groom, who have little or no say in the matter themselves.

Question 30

Cousin Marriage

Answer 30

Cousin marriage is prohibited in some societies, but particular types of cousins are the preferred marriage partners in others. Anthropologists distinguish between parallel and cross cousins. A parallel cousin is the child of a father’s brother or a mother’s sister (Figure 9.6). In some societies, the preferred spouse for a man is his father’s brother’s daughter (or, from the woman’s point of view, her father’s brother’s son). This is known as patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage.
Although not obligatory, such marriages have been favored historically among Arabs, the ancient Israelites, and the ancient Greeks. In all of these societies male dominance and descent are emphasized, but sons as well as daughters may inherit property of value. Thus, when a man marries his father’s brother’s daughter (or a woman marries her father’s brother’s son), property is retained within the single male line of descent. Generally, in these societies the greater the property, the more this form of parallel-cousin marriage is apt to occur.

Question 31

Patrilateral Parallel Cousin M

Answer 31

the child of a father’s brother or a mother’s sister. In some societies, the preferred spouse for a man is his father’s brother’s daughter (or, from the woman’s point of view, her father’s brother’s son). This is known as patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage.

Question 32

Matrilateral Cross-Cousin M

Answer 32

marriage of a man to his mother’s brother’s daughter or a woman to her father’s sister’s son. This preference exists among food foragers (such as the Aborigines of Australia) and some farming cultures (including various peoples of southern India).

Question 33

Same-Sex Marriage (Western vs. Non-Western)

Answer 33

More common with 20 countries legalizing it but around the world is still considered a taboo

Question 34

Bride Price/Wealth aka Bridewealth

Answer 34

It involves payments of money or valuable goods to a bride’s parents or other close kin. This usually happens in patrilineal societies in which the bride will become a member of the household in which her husband grew up; this household will benefit from her labor as well as from the offspring she produces. Thus, her family must be compensated for their loss.

Question 35

Bride Service

Answer 35

a period of time during which the (prospective) groom works for the bride’s family (sometimes several years, as among ancient Israelites).

Question 36

Dowry

Answer 36

A payment at the time of a woman’s marriage that comes from her inheritance, made to either her or her husband.

Question 37

Conjugal Family

Answer 37

A family established through marriage.

Question 38

Consanguineal Family

Answer 38

A family of blood relatives, consisting of related women, their brothers, and the women’s offspring.

Question 39

Nuclear Family

Answer 39

A group consisting of one or two parents and dependent offspring, which may include a stepparent, stepsiblings, and adopted children. Until recently this term referred only to the mother, father, and child(ren) unit.

Question 40

Extended Family

Answer 40

Two or more closely related nuclear families clustered together into a large domestic group.

Question 41

Patrilocal

Answer 41

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the husband’s father’s place of residence.

Question 42

Matrilocal

Answer 42

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the wife’s mother’s place of residence.

Question 43

Ambilocal (means both)

Answer 43

In this arrangement, the couple can join either the groom’s or the bride’s family, living wherever the resources are best or their presence is most needed or appreciated. This flexible pattern is particularly common among food-foraging peoples; if resources are scarce in the territory of the husband’s family group, the couple may join the wife’s relatives for more readily available food supplies in their domain.

Question 44

Neolocal

Answer 44

A residence pattern in which a married couple establishes its household in a location apart from either the husband’s or the wife’s relatives.

Question 45

Gender

Answer 45

The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes.

Question 46

Age Grade

Answer 46

An organized category of people based on age; every individual passes through a series of such categories over his or her lifetime.

Question 47

Age Set

Answer 47

A formally established group of people born during a certain timespan who move together through the series of age-grade categories; sometimes called age class.

Question 48

Common Interest Groups

Answer 48

An association that results from the act of joining, based on sharing particular activities, objectives, values, or beliefs, sometimes rooted in common ethnic, religious, or regional background.

Question 49

Egalitarian Societies

Answer 49

A society in which people have about the same rank and share equally in the basic resources that support income, status, and power.

Question 50

Social Rank

Answer 50

the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society

Question 51

Social Class

Answer 51

A category of individuals in a stratified society who enjoy equal or nearly equal prestige according to the hierarchical system of evaluation.

Question 52

Caste

Answer 52

A closed social class in a stratified society in which membership is determined by birth and fixed for life.

Question 53

Social Mobility

Answer 53

An upward or downward change in one’s social class position in a stratified society.

Question 54

Maintenance of Social Stratification

Answer 54

In any system of stratification, those who dominate proclaim their supposedly superior status by means of a powerful ideology. Typically, they assert this ideology through intimidation or propaganda (in the form of gossip, media, religious doctrine, and so forth) that presents their position as normal, natural, divinely guided, or at least well deserved. With the aid of culturally institutionalized thought structures, religious and otherwise, those in power seek to justify their own privileges and hope that members of the lower classes will “know their place” and accept their subordinated status.

Question 55

Legitimization of political systems/ Politics and Religion

Answer 55

Frequently, religion legitimizes the political order and leadership. Religious beliefs may influence or provide authoritative approval to customary rules and laws. For instance, acts that people believe to be sinful, such as murder, are often illegal as well.
In both industrial and nonindustrial societies, belief in the supernatural is important and is reflected in people’s political institutions. Politics and religion mesh in many countries, including the United States where the newly elected president takes the oath of office by swearing on a Bible, the holy book of Christianity. Other instances of the use of religion to legitimize political power in the United States are the phrases “one nation, under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, “In God We Trust” etched in coins, and “so help me God,” which is routinely used in legal proceedings.
Religious legitimization of government is more clearly defined in Israel, which defines itself as a Jewish state. There, two chief rabbis (Jewish priests) alternate as president of the country’s Chief Rabbinate. Recognized as the supreme authority for Judaism in that country, it claims jurisdiction over many aspects of Jewish life and supervises rabbinical courts. Managed by the Ministry of Religious Services, the Chief Rabbinate court is part of Israel’s judicial system, and its verdicts are carried out and enforced by the police.

Question 56

Internalized Control

Answer 56

As discussed in an earlier chapter, individuals raised in a particular culture undergo a process of enculturation during which ideas, values, and associated structures of emotion are internalized, impacting their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The internalization of cultural control leads to what we know as self-control—a person’s capacity to manage his or her spontaneous feelings and to restrain impulsive behavior.
Self-control may be motivated by ideas or emotions associated with positive cultural values such as self-denial for the common good. For example, many cultures honor traditions of charity, self-sacrifice, or other good deeds. Performed out of a desire to help those in need, such acts of kindness or generosity may spring from a spiritual or religious worldview—the collective body of ideas members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality.
Self-control may also be motivated by negative ideas and associated emotions such as shame, guilt, fear of bad luck or evil spirits, or terror of divine punishment—concepts that are culturally relative and variable. For example, Wape hunters in Papua New Guinea believe that their ancestral spirits roam the woods and will sabotage any hunter who has wronged them or their descendants by preventing him from finding game or hitting his mark. Like devout Christians who avoid sinning for fear of hell, Wape hunters avoid quarrels and maintain tranquility within the community for fear of supernatural punishment, even though no one in their village may be aware of their bad deed.

Question 57

Externalized Control

Answer 57

Because internalized controls are not wholly sufficient even in bands and tribes, every society develops externalized social controls. One type of such control is known as a sanction—a social directive designed to encourage or coerce conformity to cultural standards of acceptable social behavior.
Sanctions may be positive or negative. Positive sanctions consist of incentives to conform, such as awards, titles, promotions, and other demonstrations of approval. Negative sanctions consist of threats such as ridiculing, humiliating, fining, flogging, banishing, jailing, and even killing for violating the standards.
Furthermore, sanctions may be formal or informal, depending on whether or not a customary law or legal statute is involved. In the United States, a man who goes shirtless to a church service may be subject to a variety of informal sanctions, ranging from disapproving glances from the clergy to the chuckling of other parishioners. If, however, he were to show up without any clothing at all, he would be subject to the formal negative sanction of arrest for indecent exposure. Only in the second instance would he have been guilty of breaking the law—formal rules of conduct that, when violated, effectuate negative sanctions.
For sanctions to be effective, they must be applied consistently, and they must be generally known among members of the society. Even if some individuals are not convinced of the advantages of social conformity, they are still more likely to obey society’s rules than to accept the consequences of not doing so.

Question 58

Witchcraft

Answer 58

In societies with or without centralized political systems, witchcraft sometimes functions as an agent of cultural control and involves both self-control and social controls.

Question 59

Hopi

Answer 59

have no words for the concept of past, present, and future led early proponents of linguistic relativity to suggest the Hopi people had a unique conception of time.
Although Hopi men do the farming, the women control access to land and “own” the harvest. Men are not even allowed in the granaries. Under matrilocal residence, men usually do not move very far from the family in which they were raised, so they are available to help out there from time to time. Therefore, marriage usually does not involve compensation to the groom’s family. Less common, but also found in matrilineal societies, is avunculocal residence, in which the couple lives with the husband’s mother’s brother.

Question 60

Han Chinese (of patrilineal descent)

Answer 60

By far the largest nationality, or ethnic group, is the Han, comprising about 90 percent of the population. Are Buddhists. Historically dominating the Chinese state, the Han typically see themselves as the “real” Chinese and ignore the ethnic minorities or view them with contempt. This ethnocentrism is also reflected in names historically used for these groups.

Question 61

Ju’hoansi

Answer 61

In traditional Ju/’hoansi society, fathers as well as mothers show great indulgence to children. Children are as habituated to male caretakers as to female ones, and they do not fear or respect male authority any more than female authority.

Question 62

Navajo (Matrilineal)

Answer 62

name a child at birth, but traditionalists often give the baby an additional ancestral clan name soon after the child laughs for the first time. Among the Navajo, laughter is seen as the earliest expression of human language, a positive and joyful signal that life as a social being has started. Thus, it is an occasion for celebration, and the person who prompted that very first laugh invites family and close friends to a First Laugh Ceremony. At the gathering, the party sponsor places rock salt in the baby’s hand and helps slide the salt all over the little one’s body. Representing tears—of both laughter and sadness—the salt is said to provide strength and protection, leading to a long, happy life. Then the ancestral name is given.

Question 63

North America (Bilateral descent)

Answer 63

Adaptability also permitted humans to spread out by crossing open water and Arctic regions to places never previously inhabited by humans, most notably the Americas (about 15,000 to 18,000 years ago). At the time, a thick icecap and huge glaciers still covered much of the northern hemisphere. However, with slowly rising temperatures, the icecap gradually melted and receded. Some hunting bands inhabiting southern Siberia journeyed east toward Beringia (the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska). Crossing into North America, a continent never inhabited by hominins, these Siberian nomads also carried some Neandertal DNA in their genomes (Prüfer et al., 2014; Wall et al., 2013). From Alaska, these early ancestors of American Indians moved south.
While some bands hunted caribou, mammoth, muskox, and other animals on the northern tundra, others adapted to the Pacific coastal environment and developed a culture based on hunting sea mammals, fishing, and collecting shellfish and plant-food resources. Perhaps traveling by skin boats made from animal hide, a few groups moved south along the Pacific shoreline, reaching southern Chile about 14,000 years ago

Question 64

Kapauku, Western New Guinea (maternal and paternal, but villages are patrilineal and exogamous, with postmarital residence generally patrilocal.)

Answer 64

Kapauku economy relies on plant cultivation, hunting, fishing, and especially pig breeding. Women are responsible for raising the pigs and their main fodder, sweet potatoes. Only men with numerous wives manage to acquire many pigs needed for wealth and prestige. As a result, multiple wives are not only permitted, but are highly desired in Kapauku society.

Question 65

Cheyenne (Matrilineal Band stystem)

Answer 65

the Cheyenne Indians originally lived in the woodlands of the Great Lakes region where they cultivated corn and gathered wild rice, which fostered a distinct set of social, political, and religious practices. Then their better-armed eastern neighbors pushed them west into the Great Plains, where they adapted to a new ecosystem within a few generations. They gave up their food gardens and became horse-riding bison hunters. By adapting to life on the Great Plains, they slowly developed a culture resembling that of the Comanche, even though the cultural historical backgrounds of the two groups differed significantly. This is an example of convergent evolution—the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral cultures.

Question 66

Kpella (largest ethnic group in Liberia, Polygamy society)

Answer 66

Traditionally, the Kpelle have been farmers with rice as the main crop. The word Kpelle is often used as an adjective to refer to someone as hard working and very humble people in Liberia and Guinea
Traditionally, a Kpelle family consists of a man, his wives and his children. The household has been the usual farming unit, and all the family members participate in daily farming work. Young children learn how to farm and help the older family members with farm activities.
In their social structure, leadership was very crucial. Every Kpelle tribe used to have a chief who oversaw their own interests as well as the interests of the society. These chiefs were recognized by the national government. They used to act as mediators between the government and their own tribes. Each town also had its own chief. The chiefs act as liaisons for different groups in the society. Anthropologists such as Caroline Bledsoe have characterized Kpelle social organization as one premised on walth in people.

Question 67

Liberia (Polygamy society)

Answer 67

Traditionally, the Kpelle are politically divided in several independent paramount chiefdoms, each comprising an alliance of smaller chiefdoms. In the 1800s, freed slaves from the United States colonized the country. Independent since 1847, and long dominated by their descendants, Liberia never became politically centralized. Paramount chiefs among the Kpelle and their neighbors retained political, administrative, and legal control of regional affairs as salaried state officials, mediating between the inhabitants in their districts (traditional chiefdoms) and Liberia’s central government

Question 68

Inca (incest taboo, Patrilineal)

Answer 68

The Inca culture was a very advanced civilization and was led by 13 Incas, who were in charge of governing a people divided into social classes. Quechua was the official language and its main god was the Sun. It was very common to see gold objects as accessories on the governor’s’ garments, they used it for decorative reasons and not as currency, as they did not have price for them.
Inca culture believed in barter as a form of payment that consisted of exchanging one thing for another. In addition, they were experts in agriculture, being their main activity, among their main crops are corn, potatoes, cotton and coca.

Question 69

Kurdish people in Turkey

Answer 69

Kurds in Turkey refers to people born in or residing in Turkey who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey.
According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey. There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but they are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country, within the region viewed by Kurds as Turkish Kurdistan.
Massacres, such as the Dersim ethnocide and the Zilan massacre, have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The Turkish government categorized Kurds as “Mountain Turks” until 1991, and the words “Kurds”, “Kurdistan”, or “Kurdish” were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish languages were officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. In Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in both public and private schools. The Kurdish language is only allowed as a subject in some schools.
Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements have included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed mainly at Turkish military bases, demanding first a separate Kurdish state and later self-determination for the Kurds. According to a state-sponsored Turkish opinion poll, 59% of self-identified Kurds in Turkey think that Kurds in Turkey do not seek a separate state (while 71.3% of self-identified Turks think they do).
During the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns. There were many instances of Kurds being forcibly expelled from their villages by Turkish security forces. Many villages were reportedly set on fire or destroyed. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned. In 2013, a ceasefire effectively ended the violence until June 2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish government over Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens and the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rights Peoples’ Democratic Party were attacked by mobs.

Question 70

Swazi Southern Africa (polygyny)

Answer 70

are chiefly agriculturists and pastoralists, numbered about 1,810,000 in the late 20th century. The language of the Swazi, called Swati or Swazi, belongs to the Benue-Congo group of the Niger-Congo languages; with the Zulu and the Xhosa, the Swazi form the southern Nguni ethnolinguistic group.
In Swazi culture the highest traditional political, economic, and ritual powers are shared between a hereditary male ruler and his mother or a mother substitute who holds the official position of Queen Mother. Polygyny is the traditional ideal, each marriage involving the payment of a bride-price. The king’s wives and children are settled in royal villages, diplomatically dispersed throughout the territory. In Swaziland many national officials are drawn from dominant clans, but a balance is maintained in central and local government between this aristocratic element and representatives of commoners. In South Africa a system of regional authorities is subdivided into tribal authorities, each of which has its own chief. Cutting through local and kinship bonds is a system that classifies men by age groups, reorganized every five to seven years, and that requires of them labour and other services. Among non-Christians, beliefs in magic and witchcraft are combined with a highly organized ancestral cult.

Question 71

Iroquis (matrilineal)

Answer 71

When people talk about the Iroquois, they’re referring to a number of tribes that live in upstate New York and the providence of Ontario. The Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk nations all came together to form the Iroquois Confederacy sometime between the 12th and 15th centuries CE. Later, a sixth tribe, the Tuscarora Nation, would join the Confederacy. They played an important role in the many conflicts between the French and British Empires when they were fighting for control of North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Iroquois Confederacy is known as a society with great military and political organization, and one where women have a critical role.
The Iroquois Confederacy
Called The Six Nations and the Iroquois by other peoples dwelling in North America, they refer to themselves as the Haudenosaunee, which means ‘people building a long house.’ Although they used to fight each other, the five tribes eventually formed a confederation with a very elaborate system of politics. Using a bicameral, or two-house, legislative setup, the sachems, or representatives, from two of the five tribes met in each house. The Seneca and Mohawk tribes met in one, the Oneida and Cayuga in the other. Meanwhile, the sachems of the Onondaga had the power to veto the decisions of the other four.
The Iroquois Confederacy remains the oldest participatory democracy, a democracy where the people are directly involved, in the world. Some historians believe that many of the ideas in the United States’ representational democracy, a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions, were inspired, in part, by the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy

Question 72

Social Structure

Answer 72

The social structure of the Iroquois is tied to their family structure. Iroquois society is matrilineal, which means that the family line is traced down from the female line. The Iroquois lived in longhouses, which could fit many members of the clan. Some longhouses have been found that are longer than a modern football field. This is appropriate, since many people lived in each long house.
Within each tribe, there are moieties, or parts of a group that divide them socially and ritually. Each moiety is made up of two or three clans. The clans in the same moieties refer to each other as brothers, while the members of other moieties are referred to as cousins.
Each clan has a Clan Mother, the oldest woman in the clan. Her job is to look out for the well-being of her people. All of her female descendants would live in her longhouse, and eventually bring their husbands there as well. The Clan Mothers are also responsible for choosing new chiefs. They present their candidate to their own nation. The chief must also be agreed on by the brother nations, and then every member of the Grand Council. The Clan Mothers are also responsible for naming children and for making sure that brides and grooms are not part of the same clan.

Question 73

Munducuru, Brazil

Answer 73

The Mundurucu have a distinctive residence pattern. Rather than a pattern based on conjugal or affinal bonds, in the Munduruku villages, all males over the age of thirteen live in one household, and all of the females live with all of the males under thirteen in another.

Question 74

Tiriki Kenya (clan)

Answer 74

The Maasai form age sets—established groups of people born during a similar timespan who move together through the series of age-grade categories.
In Tiriki society, each boy born within a 15-year period joins a particular age set. Seven named age sets exist, but only one is open for membership at a time. When it closes, the next one opens. And so it continues until the passage of 105 years (7 times 15), when the first set’s membership is gone due to death, and it opens once again to take in new recruits.
Members of Tiriki age sets remain together for life as they move through four successive age grades. Advancement in age grades occurs at 15-year intervals, coinciding with the closing of the oldest age set and the opening of a new one.