| caption: |
curious marriage within prohibited degrees |
| text: |
When I took down some inhabitants' lists at the Balang morung I was completely baffled by one particular marriage. Yophong of the Metahu clan of the Balang morung had married Liniu, Dem-ang's sister, and daughter of Te-wang, the former Ang of the Balang morung. In other words, apparently a marriage within the same morung. In fact Te-wang's family used to belong to the Ang morung and this was taken into consideration at this marriage. But my informants themselves did not explain this matter to me when they saw my astonishment and they agreed when I asked them whether a Balang man may marry a Balang girl. A good example about how careful one has to be with generalizing statements. |
