Family Life and Kinship Relations Among the Mizos in Mizoram
Introduction:
The early Mizo society was a simple tribal society which had no known contact with her neighboring civilizations until the eighteen century. The great majority of Mizoram's population is several ethnic tribes who are either culturally or linguistically linked. The society was strictly patriarchal and patrilineal with a well-defined culture of its own. Children grow up with their parents and paternal grandparents. No serious distinction is made between boys and girls during early childhood. Female infanticide ended more than sixty years ago. Mizos put much emphasis on teaching the child to develop a sense of group cooperation and Christian values.
The Mizos are close-knit society with no class distinction and no class discrimination on grounds of sex. Ninety percent of them are cultivators and the village functions as a large family. Birth of a child, marriage in the village, and death of a person in the village are important occasions and the whole village would typically become involved.
The Mizo tribe is a fast developing tribe as this is evident from the fact that after the Christian Missionaries set foot in Mizoram in 1894, almost every Mizo had adopted the Christian faith. However while there was development in one field, people gradually seemed to be discarding their old customs and ways of life due to the influence of Christianity and modernization.
Family life:
The Mizo follow the patriarchal form of society, the line of family tree is reckoned from the side of the father. They do not distinguish between household and family. The people who live together under one roof and eat from the same hearth belong to one family. The average size of a family is between six and seven people. The nuclear family is the common type. The vertico-horizontal type of family tends to split into two sections, the nuclear family and the stem family. The life of the vertico-horizontal type of family is the shortest. This Ego-centered cyclic change is a unique
The early Mizo society was a simple tribal society which had no known contact with her neighboring civilizations until the eighteen century. The great majority of Mizoram's population is several ethnic tribes who are either culturally or linguistically linked. The society was strictly patriarchal and patrilineal with a well-defined culture of its own. Children grow up with their parents and paternal grandparents. No serious distinction is made between boys and girls during early childhood. Female infanticide ended more than sixty years ago. Mizos put much emphasis on teaching the child to develop a sense of group cooperation and Christian values.
The Mizos are close-knit society with no class distinction and no class discrimination on grounds of sex. Ninety percent of them are cultivators and the village functions as a large family. Birth of a child, marriage in the village, and death of a person in the village are important occasions and the whole village would typically become involved.
The Mizo tribe is a fast developing tribe as this is evident from the fact that after the Christian Missionaries set foot in Mizoram in 1894, almost every Mizo had adopted the Christian faith. However while there was development in one field, people gradually seemed to be discarding their old customs and ways of life due to the influence of Christianity and modernization.
Family life:
The Mizo follow the patriarchal form of society, the line of family tree is reckoned from the side of the father. They do not distinguish between household and family. The people who live together under one roof and eat from the same hearth belong to one family. The average size of a family is between six and seven people. The nuclear family is the common type. The vertico-horizontal type of family tends to split into two sections, the nuclear family and the stem family. The life of the vertico-horizontal type of family is the shortest. This Ego-centered cyclic change is a unique
Bibliography: * Mizoram: Society and Polity (1996) – C. Nunthara. * Kinship system of the Lushai (1960) – B.B. Goswami. * Changing family structure among the Mizos in Mizoram: A study in Aizawl District – P.C. Lalawmpuia. * Culture and folklore of Mizoram – B. Lalthangliana. * www.mizoram.nic.in * www.wikipedia.com