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Yuman Tribes of the Gila River
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Historical SummaryA problem arises as to the relative social position of twins. Among the Yuman tribes of America
a curious point [says Spier] was that the first-born of twins was called the younger. The reason given was that one always let a child, a younger person, go through a doorway first. The twins called each other in this fashion younger and older brother. It was absolutely necessary that some such decision be made, considering that age distinctions figure at every turn in the kinship system.2
In Africa every question tends to take on a legal aspect, and in Ashanti they say that the twin born last is to be given precedence over the first: "the first has merely been sent to prepare the way for the second."3 The legal aspect of the situation appears also in other parts of Africa. Thus among the Kamba of Ulu the woman is returned to her parents on the birth of twins and the bride price is repaid. The woman may then be married again with safety provided the second husband is of the grade of elder of the council. The life of the first husband is endangered by the twins if they survive but he does not kill them because, according to native law, the second husband would sue him for their value.4
In the Belgian Congo, at the court of the king of the Bushongo, there is among the state officials one "representing the fathers of twins," and another "towhom the happy father of twins must make a gift."5
2Spier, L.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 314 (University of Chicago Press. By permission.).
3 Rattray, R. S., Ashanti Proverbs, 188.
4 Hobley, C. W., Bantu Beliefs and Magic, 157.
5 Torday, E. n, and T. A. Joyce, Études ethnographiques . . . : Les Bushongo, 2: 56; 57.
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Chicago: "Yuman Tribes of the Gila River," Yuman Tribes of the Gila River in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed April 26, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=F6XJT32TB6YRIVW.
MLA: . "Yuman Tribes of the Gila River." Yuman Tribes of the Gila River, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 26 Apr. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=F6XJT32TB6YRIVW.
Harvard: , 'Yuman Tribes of the Gila River' in Yuman Tribes of the Gila River. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 26 April 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=F6XJT32TB6YRIVW.
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