NOMADS OF THE LONG BOW — HOLMBERG 



57 



free and easy. Sex play in the form of scratching, 

 poking each other in the eyes, grooming, striking 

 at each other's sexual organs, joking, etc., is pub- 

 licly indulged in without concern. 



Potential husbands and wives to some extent 

 share the patterns of freedom that exist between 

 husband and wife. This is especially true as 

 regards the relations between a man and his wife's 

 sister or a woman and her husband's brother. But 

 as the nearness of relationship between potential 

 spouses decreases, the patterns of freedom in their 

 public relations also decrease. The principal 

 reason for this seems to be the. jealousies that 

 arise out of too frequent sexual intercourse between 

 distantly related potential spouses, which some- 

 times result in fights and quarrels. On the whole, 

 however, the relationships between potential 

 spouses are patterned along the lines of those 

 actually existing between husband and wife. 



Between parents and young children there is 

 little reserve. The latter are treated very indul- 

 gently and are seldom punished for breaches of 

 custom. As cluldren grow older, however, they 

 are expected to respect and to obey their parents, 

 who treat them roughly in case they do not. A 

 person's respect for his parents continues after 

 marriage until the latter grow old and useless, 

 after which little concern is shown for them. 



A certain reserve can also be noted in the rela- 

 tionships between siblings of the opposite sex; 

 this never reaches the point of avoidance, however. 

 Brothers and sisters are allowed to speak freely to 

 one another — and otherwise maintain cordial 

 relations — but a taboo on sexual behavior between 

 them is instilled in early childhood. The sexual 

 taboos between brother and sister are generalized 

 to include all relatives classed as siblings by the 

 kinship system. 



The freest relationships of all are those between 

 siblings of the same sex and of about the same age. 

 From earliest childhood brothers, like sisters, 

 begin to associate with each other, and the close 

 bonds established at this time continue and 

 strengthen throughout life. Brothers frequently 

 marry sisters; they have the same potential wives; 

 they hunt, fish, and plant gardens together. Con- 

 versely, sisters frequently marry brothers; they 

 have the same potential husbands; they collect, 

 cook, and carry out household tasks together. 

 Under conditions of this kind, of course, binding 

 ties are formed, so that brothers often enjoy secrets 



with brothers, and sisters with sisters, that are not 

 even shared by husband and wife. Thus, through- 

 out life one's most intimate friend and companion 

 is most likely to be one's sibling of the same sex 

 and of about the same age. 



Grandparent-grandchild relationships are rare. 

 When they do occur, a grandchild is supposed to 

 show respect for his grandparents equal to that 

 which he shows for his parents. In general, how- 

 ever, grandparents have little to say about how 

 grandchildren are to be raised. A grandmother 

 may weave a baby sling for her grandchild, or a 

 grandfather may make a toy bow and arrows for 

 his grandson, but such things are more often made 

 by parents than by grandparents. 



Although there are no taboos between parents- 

 in-law and children-in-law, the relationships be- 

 tween these relatives are the most reserved of all. 

 Because of matrilocal residence a woman is able 

 to avoid most direct contacts with her parents- 

 in-law, but a man, while in the house, is almost 

 constantly thrown into contact with his parents- 

 in-law by virtue of the fact that his (and his wife's) 

 hammock hangs not 3 feet from theirs, with noth- 

 ing more than a few embers of fire to separate them. 

 Under these intimate and frustrating circum- 

 stances it is rather strange that no mother-in-law 

 taboo has arisen to help in keeping peace between 

 the families, but this has not happened. The fact 

 of kinship ties — both husband and wife are related 

 to their in-laws by blood — probably does much 

 to lessen the friction that otherwise might arise 

 between them. 



While overt behavior between in-laws is usually 

 polite and reserved, suppressed aggression some- 

 times runs high. This is particularly true in cases 

 where a man is living with his mother-in-law whose 

 husband is dead, for he then has to supply her 

 with food without receiving anytliing in return. 

 Widowed mothers-in-law have substantial appe- 

 tites and contribute almost nothing to the family 

 larder. Consequently their sons-in-law regard 

 them as liabilities and avoid relations with them 

 whenever possible. 



Artificial ties of kinship such as blood brother- 

 hood and ceremonial parenthood are absent. In 

 this connection, the Franciscan priest, Anselm 

 Schermair (1934, p. 520), has implied that the 

 Siriono possess a form of godparenthood. He 

 states that the term ydnde is applied to people 

 who stand in the relationship of godparent to one's 



