| caption: |
chapter three - the Ram or village community |
| caption: |
woman's relations with the kienga |
| caption: |
young age at marriage; role of wife and husband-wife relations; parent-child relations |
| note: |
footnotes indicated by boxes within square brackets |
| text: |
A girl marries at any age between 13 and 16, very rarely later. Within the household, she is responsible for the economical use of available supplies and will be consulted about the sale of rice-stocks, and indeed about almost all her husband's transactions. If the village is near a bazaar, she, rather than her husband, will go down to sell vegetables and other small produce and buy thread or salt with the money obtained. She is responsible for the early training of the children, although (82) the father takes a share in carrying and caring for them, men frequently work at basket-making, repairing house-walls, or other tasks not requiring violent movement, with a sleeping baby slung in a cloth on their backs. When the boy moves to his father's bed his father takes over his discipline and education until he goes to the hangseoki, but the wife continues to educate and train her daughters. Although the husband is the head of the house and the owner of the rice-supplies, yet the wife, partly - but not entirely - because of her economic importance, remains a powerful influence and is regarded with respect and affection by her children until her death; [35 [Record T86795] |
