No!^T9r* ^^^' '^^^™ RAMAH NAVAHO — KLUCKHOHN 363 



age is only a few years. However, in the total Ramah records,^* 

 the wife was 5-10 years younger in 49 cases, 10-15 years younger in 

 27 cases, 15-20 years younger in 18 cases, and more than 20 years 

 younger in 28 cases. The last figure reflects the fact that men past 

 50 who are widowed or whose wife has passed the reproductive age 

 frequently marry again and prefer a young wife if they can obtain 

 one through economic or other arrangements. The converse of this 

 is that 13 men have married women 5-10 years older than themselves, 

 7 have married women 10-15 years older, and 5 have taken wives 

 more than 15 years older. In all save four of these cases, the mar- 

 riage has been the young man's first. In 11 cases, the women had 

 one or more daughters by a previous marriage, and in 3 of these 

 instances the young man eventually also married his wife's daughter. 

 All of these marriages of young men to older women have been 

 arranged in the pattern of continuiug exchanges, largely but not 

 exclusively economic. The Navaho also rationalize this type of 

 marriage by saying that it is good for a young man to marry a woman 

 who is experienced in sexual and subsistence activities. 



Table 12 provides information on the duration of marriages and 

 incidence of termination by death and divorce. It is evident that 

 the first 2 years (and especially the first months) are crucial. This 

 is notably the case with arranged marriages. The birth of a child 

 who survives is no guarantee that a marriage wiU endure beyond a 

 year or two, but it does make a difference because then the families 

 of both spouses will usually bring considerable pressure to preserve 

 the marriage. Navaho women who conceive at all, ordinarily con- 

 ceive quickly. Figures (as of 1946) are: 11 mothers had their first 

 child when they were 15 years of age or under; an additional 61 mothers 

 had a first child when the mother was under 20; 46 more women bore 

 when they were under 25; and only 19 women had their first child 

 after the age of 25. 



One cannot, of course, specify the "causes" of divorce with equal 

 precision. One can only list the factors the Navaho talk about most 

 frequently and which seem to obtain from observed behavior. The 

 Navaho often speaks of laziness or irresponsibility or drunkenness 

 or physical aggression. Unwillingness or inability to perform the 

 sex act is also considered a valid ground for divorce. There is much 

 talk of nagging or unreasonable demands from relatives of the spouse. 

 On the basis of inference, there is reason to suspect that many of 



** The population from which this and other statements referring to all marriages recorded in the Ramah 

 census should be taken as "around 400." Actually, some information on about 750 marriages appears on the 

 cards. But data on marriages before 1890, on marriages of emigrants, and on marriages of some individuals 

 who died before 1920 are incomplete. For some purposes where reasonably reliable dates are necessary, the 

 number that can be tabulated falls to around 300. But for most of the tabulations in this section the num- 

 bers fluctuate between 360 and 425. 



