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Matrilineality, at times calledmatriliny, is the tracing ofkinship through the female line. It may also correlate with asocial system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother'slineage, and which can involve theinheritance of property and titles. A matriline is aline of descent where a person inherits his or her mother's lineage. In a matrilinealdescent system, individuals belong to the samedescent group as their mothers. This is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern ofpatrilineal descent from which afamily name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called theirenatic oruterine ancestry, corresponding to thepatrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry.
Scholars disagree on the nature of early human, that is,Homo sapiens, kinship.[a] In the late 19th century, most scholars believed, influenced byLewis H. Morgan's bookAncient Society, that early kinship was matrilineal.[1]Friedrich Engels took this up inThe Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. This thesis that our first domestic institution was the matrilinealclan, not thefamily, becamecommunist orthodoxy. However, by the 20th century most social anthropologists disagreed,[2][3] although during the 1970s and 1980s,feminist scholars often revived it.[4]
In recent years,evolutionary biologists, geneticists andpalaeoanthropologists have found indirect genetic and other evidence of early matriliny.[5][6][7][8] Some genetic data suggest that over millennia, femalesub-Saharan African hunter-gatherers have lived with their maternal kin after marriage.[9] Also, when sisters and their mothers help each other with childcare, the descent line tends to be matrilineal.[10]Biological anthropologists now largely agree that cooperative childcare helped the large human brain and human psychology to evolve.[11] Most primate species have males dispersing from their birth group and are thus materilinear, thoughchimpanzees and humans appear to be largely paterilinear.[12]
Matriliny is often tied tomatrilocality, which shows significant nuance. Pastoralists and farmers often gravitate toward patrilocality.[13] However, studies show that hunter-gatherer societies have a flexiblephilopatry or practice multilocality; matrilocality andpatrilocality are not the only possibilities.[14][15] Flexibility leads to a more egalitarian society, as both men and women can choose with whom to live.[14][16] So, for example, among the pygmyAka Peoples a young couple usually settles in the husband's camp after the birth of their first child.[17] However, the husband can stay in the wife's community, where one of his brothers or sisters can join him. Kinship and residence in hunter-gatherer societies may thus be complex and multifaceted. Supporting this, a re-check of past data on hunter gatherers showed that about 40% of groups were bilocal, 22.9% matrilocal, and 25% patrilocal.[18]
Matrilinealsurnames (matrinames) are names transmitted from mother to daughter, in contrast to the more familiarpatrilineal surnames (patrinames) transmitted from father to son, the pattern most common amongfamily names today.[19]
In some societies, membership was—and, in the following list, still is if shown initalics—inherited matrilineally. Examples include many, if not most, NativeNorth American groups: theCherokee,Choctaw,Gitksan,Haida,Hopi,Iroquois,Lenape,Navajo andTlingit among others; theCabécar andBribri of Costa Rica; theNaso andGuna people of Panama; theKogi,Wayuu andCarib of South America; theMinangkabau people ofWest Sumatra,Indonesia andNegeri Sembilan,Malaysia; theTrobrianders,Dobu andNagovisi of Melanesia; theNairs, someThiyyas &Muslims ofKerala and theMogaveeras,Billavas & theBunts ofKarnataka in southIndia; theKhasi,Jaintia andGaro ofMeghalaya in northeast India andBangladesh; theNgalops andSharchops ofBhutan; theMosuo ofChina; theKayah of Southeast Asia; theBasques ofSpain andFrance; theAkan including theAshanti,Bono,Akwamu,Fante ofGhana; most groups across the so-called "matrilineal belt" of south-central Africa; theNubians of SouthernEgypt &Sudan; theTuareg of west and north Africa; and theSerer ofSenegal,The Gambia andMauritania. The title of theRain Queen inSouth Africa is inherited via matrilinealprimogeniture:dynastic descent is matrilineal, with only females eligible to inherit.[20]
Genetic evidence shows matriliny, and matrilocality, amongCelts inIron Age Britain. As other data indicate patriarchy in theEarly Bronze Age, this may indicate a rare patriarchal to matrifocal transition.[21][22] There is evidence of matrilineal royal descent, from maternal uncle to nephew, in early Iron Age (ca. 500 BCE) Celtics in continental Europe.[23][24] There is evidence of matriliny inPre-Islamic Arabia among a subclan of the Amarite tribal confederation ofAncient Saba; the wider society there was overwhelmingly patrilineal.[25] Genetic data has also established matriliny and matrilocality of an elite amongAncestral Pueblo People, from 8th to 11th century AD, inChaco Canyon,New Mexico.[26] The initial people ofMicronesia practiced matrilocality, as seen in ancient DNA.[27] Ancient DNA from a late neolithic site in Northern China (Fujia inShandong Province), dated around 2700 BCE, showed both matrilocality and possibly a general preference for the maternal bloodline as opposed to affinal (marital) kin.[28]
Matrilineal groups are often made up of matrilinealclans, at times withdescent groups orfamily groups each with a separate female ancestor. Sometimes the male ancestor, that is, the partner of the female ancestor where known, is mentioned as the ancestor though the clan is matrilineal.[25] Surnames in these situations may follow several patterns. The clan name may be the surname, handed down matrilineally. The clan name may be tracked but not used in the personal names. This is true of the Minangkabau, for instance, who mostly use just one name. It is also true of the Akan, who do use two names, but do not inherit the second name, hence making it a surname but not a family name.[29] The surname may also be the name of the descent group.
While a mother normally takes care of her own children in all cultures, in some matrilineal cultures, particularly matrilocal ones, an "uncle-father," termed asocial father, will take care of, and be guardian to, his nieces and nephews instead of his sons. The biological father plays little role in child rearing.[30]
Some 20 millionAkan live in Africa, particularly inGhana andIvory Coast. (See as well their subgroups, theAshanti, also called Asante,Akyem,Bono,Fante,Akwamu.) Many but not all of the Akan still (2001)[31][32] practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditionalextended family households, as follows. The traditional Akan economic, political and social organization is based on maternal lineages, which are the basis of inheritance and succession. A lineage is defined as all those related bymatrilineal descent from a particular ancestress. Several lineages are grouped into apolitical unit headed by a chief and a council of elders, each of whom is the elected head of a lineage – which itself may include multiple extended-family households. Public offices are thus vested in the lineage, as are land tenure and other lineage property. In other words, lineage property is inherited only by matrilineal kin.[31][33]
"The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors." When a woman's brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit.[34]
Each lineage controls the lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members.[35]
The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups calledabusua (similar toclans), named Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko. The members of eachabusua are united by their belief that they are all descended from the same ancient ancestress. Marriage between members of the sameabusua is forbidden. One inherits or is a lifelong member of the lineage, the political unit, and theabusua of one's mother, regardless of one's gender and/or marriage. Note that members and their spouses thus belong to differentabusuas, mother and children living and working in one household and their husband/father living and working in a different household.[31][33]
According to this source[34] of further information about the Akan, "A man is strongly related to his mother's brother (wɔfa) but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of apolygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (sister's son) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume a dominant position."[34]
Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determinedpatrilineally rather than matrilineally. There are 12 patrilinealNtoro (which means spirit) groups, and everyone belongs to their father's Ntoro group but not to his (matrilineal) family lineage andabusua. Each patrilineal Ntoro group has its own surnames,[36] taboos, ritual purifications, and etiquette.[33]
A recent (2001) book[31] provides this update on the Akan: Some families are changing from the aboveabusua structure to thenuclear family.[37] Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family rather than by theabusua or clan, especially in the city.[38] The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important,[37] with many people still living in theabusua framework presented above.[31]
TheBerber inhabitants ofGran Canaria island had developed a matrilineal society by the time theCanary Islands and their people, calledGuanches, were conquered by the Spanish.[39]
The Kongo people ofAngola, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo,Gabon and theRepublic of the Congo have traditionally recognized their descent from their mother, and this lineage links them into kinship groups.
TheSerer people ofSenegal, theGambia andMauritania are patrilineal (simanGol inSerer language[40]) as well as matrilineal (tim[41]). There are severalSerer matriclans andmatriarchs. Some of these matriarchs includeFatim Beye (1335) andNdoye Demba (1367) – matriarchs of theJoos matriclan which also became a dynasty inWaalo (Senegal). Somematriclans or maternal clans form part ofSerer medieval anddynastic history, such as theGuelowars. The most revered clans tend to be rather ancient and form part ofSerer ancient history. Theseproto-Serer clans hold great significance inSerer religion andmythology. Some of these proto-Serer matriclans include theCegandum andKagaw, whose historical account is enshrined in Serer religion, mythology andtraditions.[42]
In Serer culture, inheritance is both matrilineal and patrilineal.[43] It all depends on the asset being inherited – i.e. whether the asset is a paternal asset – requiring paternal inheritance (kucarla[43] ) or a maternal asset – requiring maternal inheritance (den yaay[41] orƭeen yaay[43]). The actual handling of these maternal assets (such as jewelry, land, livestock, equipment or furniture, etc.) is discussed in the subsectionRole of the Tokoor of one of the above-listed main articles.
TheTuareg (Arabic:طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a largeBerber ethnic confederation found across several nations in north Africa, includingNiger,Mali andAlgeria. The Tuareg areclan-based,[44] and are (still, in 2007) "largely matrilineal".[44][45][46] The Tuareg areMuslim, but mixed with a "heavy dose" of their pre-existing beliefs including matriliny.[44][46]
Tuareg women enjoy high status within their society, compared with theirArab counterparts and with other Berber tribes: Tuareg social status is transmitted through women, with residence oftenmatrilocal.[45] Most women could read and write, while most men were illiterate, concerning themselves mainly with herding livestock and other male activities.[45] The livestock and other movable property were owned by the women, whereas personal property is owned and inherited regardless of gender.[45] In contrast to most other Muslim cultural groups, men wear veils but women do not.[44][46] This custom is discussed in more detail in the Tuareg article'sclothing section, which mentions it may be the protection needed against the blowing sand while traversing theSahara desert.[47]
The Bororo people of Brazil and Bolivia live in matrilineal clans, with husbands moving to live with their wives' extended families.
The clan system of the Bribri people of Costa Rica and Panama is matrilineal; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. Only women can inherit land.
The social organization of the Cabécar people of Costa Rica is predicated on matrilineal clans in which the mother is the head of household. Each matrilineal clan controls marriage possibilities, regulates land tenure, and determines property inheritance for its members.
In the traditional culture of theGuna people of Panama and Colombia, families are matrilinear and matrilocal, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family. The groom also takes the last name of the bride.
TheHopi (in what is now theHopi Reservation in northeasternArizona), according toAlice Schlegel, had as its "gender ideology ... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality."[48] According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles ... are egalitarian .... [and] [n]either sex is inferior."[49] LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in ... political decision-making."[50] According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here"[51] and "the attitude of female superiority is fading".[51] Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilinial"[52] and "the household ... was matrilocal".[52]
Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good ... [with] the female principle ... activated in women and in Mother Earth ... as its source"[53] and that the Hopi "were not in a state of continual war with equally matched neighbors"[54] and "had no standing army"[54] so that "the Hopi lacked the spur to masculine superiority"[54] and, within that, as that women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)",[54] theClan Mother, for example, being empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair,[53] since there was no "countervailing ... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure".[53]
TheIroquois Confederacy or League, combining five to six Native AmericanHaudenosaunee nations or tribes before theU.S. became a nation, operated byThe Great Binding Law of Peace, a constitution by which women retained matrilineal-rights and participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war,[55] through what may have been a matriarchy[56] or "gyneocracy".[57] The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown: the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880.[58] The League still exists.
Other Iroquoian-speaking peoples such as theWyandot and theMeherrin, that were never part of the Iroquois League, nevertheless have traditionally possessed a matrilineal family structure.
The Kogi people of northern Colombia practice bilateral inheritance, with certain rights, names or associations descending matrilineally.
Occupied for 10,000 years byNative Americans, the land that is present-dayNew Jersey was overseen byclans of theLenape, who farmed, fished, and hunted upon it. The pattern of their culture was that of a matrilineal agricultural and mobile hunting society that was sustained with fixed, but not permanent, settlements in theirmatrilineal clan territories. Leadership by men was inherited through the maternal line, and the women elders held the power to remove leaders of whom they disapproved.
Villages were established and relocated as the clans farmed new sections of the land when soil fertility lessened and when they moved among their fishing and hunting grounds by seasons. The area was claimed as a part of the DutchNew Netherland province dating from 1614, where active trading in furs took advantage of the natural pass west, but the Lenape prevented permanent settlement beyond what is now Jersey City.
"Early Europeans who first wrote about these Indians found matrilineal social organization to be unfamiliar and perplexing. As a result, the early records are full of 'clues' about early Lenape society, but were usually written by observers who did not fully understand what they were seeing."[59]
The Mandan people of the northern Great Plains of the United States historically lived in matrilineal extended family lodges.
The Naso (Teribe or Térraba) people of Panama and Costa Rica describe themselves as a matriarchal community, although their monarchy has traditionally been inherited in the male line.
The Navajo people of the American southwest are a matrilineal society in which kinship, children, livestock and family histories are passed down through the female. In marriage the groom moved to live with the brides family. Children also came from their mother's clan living in hogans of the females family.
The Tanana Athabaskan people, the original inhabitants of the Tanana River basin in Alaska and Canada, traditionally lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.
The Tlingit people, the original inhabitants of the Lingít Aaní in Alaska and Canada, are organized into Matrilineal Clans. All property both physical and intellectual are owned by their clan.
ThePowhatan and other tribes of theTsenacommacah, also known as the Powhatan Confederacy, practiced a version of male-preference matrilinealseniority, favoring brothers over sisters in the current generation (but allowing sisters to inherit if no brothers remained), but passing to the next generation through the eldest female line. InA Map of VirginiaJohn Smith of Jamestown explains:
His [Chief Powhatan's] kingdome descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren, whereof he hath 3 namely Opitchapan,Opechancanough, and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to the eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males.[60]
The Upper Kuskokwim people are the original inhabitants of the Upper Kuskokwim River basin. They speak an Athabaskan language more closely related to Tanana than to the language of the Lower Kuskokkwim River basin. They were traditionally hunter-gatherers who lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.
The Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela live in matrilineal clans, with paternal relationships in the background.
Originally,Chinese surnames were derived matrilineally,[61] although by the time of theShang dynasty (1600 to 1046BCE) they had become patrilineal.[62]
Archaeological data supports the theory that during theNeolithic period (7000 to 2000BCE) in China, Chinese matrilineal clans evolved into the usual patrilineal families by passing through a transitional patrilineal clan phase.[62] Evidence includes some "richly furnished" tombs for young women in the early NeolithicYangshao culture, whose multiple other collective burials imply a matrilineal clan culture.[62] Toward the late Neolithic period, when burials were apparently of couples, "a reflection of patriarchy", an increasing elaboration of presumed chiefs' burials is reported.[62]
Relatively isolated ethnic minorities such as theMosuo (Na) in southwestern China are highly matrilineal.
Of communities recognized in thenational Constitution as Scheduled Tribes, "some ... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal"[63] "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian."[64] Some Hindu communities in Southwest India practiced matriliny, especially theNair[65][66] (orNayar),Tiyyas[67] and someNamboothiri Brahmins[68] in the state ofKerala, and theBunts andBillava in the state ofKarnataka. The system of inheritance was known asMarumakkathayam in theNair community orAliyasantana in theBunt and theBillava community, and both communities were subdivided intoclans. This system was exceptional in the sense that it was one of the few traditional systems in India that gave women some liberty and the right to property.
In the matrilineal system ofKerala, southern India, the family lived together in atharavadu which was composed of a mother, her brothers and younger sisters, and her children in a system called asMarumakkathayam. The oldest male member was known as theKarnavar and was the head of the household, managing the family estate. Lineage was traced through the mother, and the children belonged to the mother's family. Thesurname would be from the maternal side and all family property was jointly owned. In the event of a partition, the shares of the children were clubbed with that of the mother. The Karnavar's property was inherited by his sisters' sons rather than his own sons. Almost all the kingdoms in Kerala practised this system, with the Karnavar of the family becoming the king. TheArakkal kingdom of Kerala followed a similar matrilineal system of descent: the eldest member of the family, whether male or female, became its head and ruler. (For further information see the articles onNair,Ambalavasi,Bunts andBillava).Amitav Ghosh has stated that, although there were numerous other matrilineal succession systems in communities of the south Indian coast, the Nairs "achieved an unparalleled eminence in the anthropological literature on matriliny".[69]
In thenortheast Indian stateMeghalaya, theKhasi,Garo,Jaintia people have a long tradition of a largely matrilinear system in which the youngest daughter inherits the wealth of the parents and takes over their care.[70]
In theMinangkabau matrilinealclan culture inIndonesia, a person'sclan name is important in their marriage and their other cultural-related events.[71][72][73] Two totally unrelated people who share the same clan name can never be married because they are considered to be from the same clan mother (unless they come from distant villages). Likewise, whenMinangs meet total strangers who share the same clan name, anywhere in Indonesia, they could theoretically expect to feel that they are distant relatives.[74] Minang people do not have a family name or surname; neither is one's important clan name included in one's name; instead one'sgiven name is the only name one has.[75]
TheMinangs are one of the world's largest matrilineal societies/cultures/ethnic groups, with a population of 4 million in their home provinceWest Sumatra in Indonesia and about 4 million elsewhere, mostly in Indonesia. The Minang people are well known within their country for their tradition of matriliny and for their "dedication to Islam" – despite Islam being "supposedly patrilineal".[71] This well-known accommodation, between their traditional complex of customs, calledadat, and their religion, was actually worked out to help end the Minangkabau 1821–37Padri War.[71]
TheMinangkabau are a prime example of a matrilineal culture with female inheritance. With Islamic religious background ofcomplementarianism and places a greater number of men than women in positions of religious and political power. Inheritance and proprietorship pass from mother to daughter.[76]
Besides Minangkabau, several other ethnics in Indonesia are also matrilineal and have similar culture as the Minangkabau. They are Suku Melayu Bebilang, Suku Kubu and Kerinci people. Suku Melayu Bebilang live in Kota Teluk Kuantan, Kabupaten Kuantan Singingi (also known as Kuansing), Riau. They have similar culture as the Minang. Suku Kubu people live in Jambi and South Sumatera. They are around 200 000 people. Suku Kerinci people mostly live in Kabupaten Kerinci, Jambi. They are around 300 000 people.[citation needed]
Matriliny was occasionally practiced by mainstreamSorani,Zaza,Feyli,Gorani, andAleviKurds, though the practice was much rarer among non-AleviKurmanji-speakingKurds.[77]
TheMangur clan of the, Culturally,Mokri tribal confederation and, politically,Bolbas Federation[78] is an enatic clan, meaning members of the clan can only inherit their mothers last name and are considered to be a part of the mothers family. The entire Mokri tribe may have also practiced this form of enaticy before the collapse of their emirate and its direct rule from the Iranian or Ottoman state, or perhaps the tradition started because of depopulation in the area due to raids.[79]
A culture similar to lareh bodi caniago, practiced by theMinangkabau, is the basis foradat perpatih practices in the state ofNegeri Sembilan and parts ofMalacca as a product of West Sumatran migration into theMalay Peninsula in the 15th century.[80][81]
Matriliny among theMuslims andTamils in the Eastern Province ofSri Lanka arrived fromKerala, India via Muslim traders before 1200 CE.[82][83][84] Matriliny here includeskinship and social organization, inheritance and property rights.[85][86][87] For example, "the mother'sdowry property and/or house is passed on to the eldest daughter."[88][89] TheSinhalese people are the third ethnic group in eastern Sri Lanka,[90] and have a kinship system which is "intermediate" between that of matriliny and that ofpatriliny,[91][92] along with "bilateral inheritance", intermediate between matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance.[86][93] While the first two groups speak theTamil language, the third group speaks theSinhala language. The Tamils largely identify withHinduism, the Sinhalese being primarilyBuddhist.[94] The three groups are about equal in population size.[95]
Patriarchal social structures apply to all of Sri Lanka, but in theEastern Province are mixed with the matrilineal features summarized in the paragraph above and described more completely in the following subsection:
According to Kanchana N. Ruwanpura,Eastern Sri Lanka "is highly regarded even among"feminist economists "for the relatively favourable position of its women, reflected" in women's equal achievements inHuman Development Indices "(HDIs) as well as matrilineal and"bilateral "inheritance patterns and property rights".[96][97]She also conversely argues that "feminist economists need to be cautious in applauding Sri Lanka's gender-based achievements and/or matrilineal communities",[98] because these matrilineal communities coexist with "patriarchal structures and ideologies" and the two "can be strange but ultimately compatible bedfellows",[99] as follows:
She "positions Sri Lankan women within gradations ofpatriarchy by beginning with a brief overview of the main religious traditions,"Buddhism,Hinduism, andIslam, "and the ways in which patriarchal interests are promoted through religious practice" in Eastern Sri Lanka (but without being as repressive as classical patriarchy).[100] Thus, "feminists have claimed that Sri Lankan women are relatively well positioned in the"South Asian region,[101][86] despite "patriarchal institutional laws that ... are likely to work against the interests of women," which is a "co-operative conflict" between women and these laws.[102] (Clearly "female-heads have no legal recourse" from these laws which state "patriarchal interests".)[103] For example, "the economic welfare of female-heads [heads of households] depends upon networks" ("of kin and [matrilineal] community"), "networks that mediate the patriarchal-ideological nexus."[104] She wrote that "some female heads possessed" "feminist consciousness"[105][b] and, at the same time, that "in many cases female-heads are not vociferous feminists ... but rather 'victims' of patriarchal relations and structures that place them in precarious positions.... [while] they have held their ground ... [and] provided for their children".[106]
On the other hand, she also wrote that feminists includingMalathi de Alwis andKumari Jayawardena have criticized a romanticized view of women's lives in Sri Lanka put forward by Yalman, and mentioned the Sri Lankan case "where young women raped (usually by a man) are married-off/required to cohabit with the rapists!"[107]
Most ethnic groups classified as "(Montagnards,Malayo-Polynesian andAustroasian)" are matrilineal.[108]
OnNorth Vietnam, according to Alessandra Chiricosta, the legend ofÂu Cơ is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' ... and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there .... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines."[109][c]
TheArabana people of South Australia are described byFrancis Gillen andWalter Baldwin Spencer in their 1899 bookThe Native Tribes of Central Australia (in which the name is spelled Urabunna) as counting their descent "in the female line".
TheDiyari people of South Australia are described by Francis James Gillen and Walter Baldwin Spencer in their 1899 bookThe Native Tribes of Central Australia (in which the name is spelled Dieri) as counting their descent "in the female line".
TheTiwi people living on the Tiwi Islands of Australia's Northern Territory base their social structure on matrilineal kinship groups. Traditional marriage practices have persisted in spite of the presence of Christian missionaries on the islands.
While men held positions of religious and political power, the Spartan constitution mandated that inheritance and proprietorship pass from mother to daughter.[110]
In Pictish society, succession in leadership (later kingship) was matrilineal, with the reigning chief succeeded by either his brother or perhaps a nephew but not through patrilineal succession of father to son.[111]
Some oceanic societies, such as theMarshallese and the Trobrianders,[112] thePalauans,[113] theYapese[114] and the Siuai,[115] are characterized by matrilineal descent. The sister's sons or the brothers of the decedent are commonly the successors in these societies.
Matriliny in Judaism or matrilineal descent in Judaism is the tracing ofJewish descent through the maternal line. Close to all Jewish communities have followed matrilineal descent from at least earlyTannaitic (c. 10–70 CE) times through modern times.[116]
The origins and date-of-origin of matrilineal descent in Judaism are uncertain.Orthodox Judaism maintains that matrilineal descent is anOral Law from at least the time of the Receiving of the Torah onMount Sinai (c. 1310 BCE).[117] According to some modern academic opinions, it was likely instituted in either the earlyTannaitic period (c. 10–70 CE) or the time ofEzra (c. 460 BCE).[116]
In practice, Jewish denominations define "Who is a Jew?" via descent in different ways. All denominations of Judaism have protocols forconversion for those who are not Jewish by descent.
Orthodox Judaism[118] andConservative Judaism[116][119] still practice matrilineal descent.Karaite Judaism, which rejects the Oral Law, generally practices patrilineal descent.Reconstructionist Judaism has recognized Jews of patrilineal descent since 1968.[120]
In 1983, theCentral Conference of American Rabbis ofReform Judaism passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent, provided that either (a) one is raised as a Jew, by Reform standards, or (b) one engages in an appropriate act of public identification, formalizing a practice that had been common in Reform synagogues for at least a generation. This 1983 resolution departed from the Reform Movement's previous position requiring formal conversion to Judaism for children without a Jewish mother.[121] However, the closely associatedIsrael Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism has rejected this resolution and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother.[122]
In the United States, the offspring of enslaved women inherited their mother's status. A significant consequence of this is that children resulting from rape or unions between enslaved women and their owners did not have any of the rights of the father as they would have had under the patrilineal succession that applied to everyone but the enslaved.[citation needed]
Certain ancient myths have been argued to expose ancient traces of matrilineal customs that existed before historical records.
The ancient historianHerodotus is cited byRobert Graves in his translations of Greek myths as attesting that theLycians[123][124] of their times "still reckoned" by matrilineal descent, or were matrilineal, as were theCarians.[125]
In Greek mythology, while the royal function was amale privilege, power devolution often came through women, and the future king inherited power through marrying the queen heiress. This is illustrated in theHomeric myths where all the noblest men in Greece vie for the hand ofHelen (and the throne ofSparta), as well as the Oedipian cycle whereOedipus weds the recently widowed queen at the same time he assumes the Theban kingship.
This trend also is evident in manyCeltic myths, such as the (Welsh)mabinogi stories ofCulhwch and Olwen, or the (Irish)Ulster Cycle, most notably the key facts to theCúchulainn cycle that Cúchulainn gets his final secret training with awarrior woman,Scáthach, and becomes the lover of her daughter; and the root of theTáin Bó Cuailnge, that whileAilill may wear the crown ofConnacht, it is his wifeMedb who is the real power, and she needs to affirm her equality to her husband by owning chattels as great as he does.
The Picts are widely cited as being matrilineal.[126][127]
A number of otherBreton stories also illustrate the motif. Even theKing Arthur legends have been interpreted in this light by some. For example, theRound Table, both as a piece of furniture and as concerns the majority of knights belonging to it, was a gift to Arthur fromGuinevere's fatherLeodegrance.
Arguments also have been made that matriliny lay behind variousfairy tale plots which may contain the vestiges of folk traditions not recorded.
For instance, the widespread motif of a father who wishes to marry his own daughter—appearing in such tales asAllerleirauh,Donkeyskin,The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter, andThe She-Bear—has been explained as his wish to prolong his reign, which he would lose after his wife's death to his son-in-law.[128] More mildly, the hostility of kings to their daughter's suitors is explained by hostility to their successors. In such tales asThe Three May Peaches,Jesper Who Herded the Hares, orThe Griffin, kings set dangerous tasks in an attempt to prevent the marriage.[129]
Fairy tales with hostility between the mother-in-law and the heroine—such asMary's Child,The Six Swans, and Perrault'sSleeping Beauty—have been held to reflect a transition between a matrilineal society, where a man's loyalty was to his mother, and a patrilineal one, where his wife could claim it, although this interpretation is predicated on such a transition being a normal development in societies.[130]
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