page_title: Sarakatsani
section_title: Kinship and honor of the kindred
hierarchical_section_title: Sarakatsani / Culture / Kinship and honor of the kindred
caption_attribution_description: English: Sarakatsani men in Western Macedonia, Greece, 1935. Ελληνικά: Ανδρική καλοκαιρινή σύναξη Σαρακατσάνων, με άσπρες κοντές φουστανέλλες.
context_page_description: The Sarakatsani are an ethnic Greek population subgroup who were traditionally transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring Bulgaria, southern Albania, and North Macedonia. Historically centred on the Pindus mountains and other mountain ranges in continental Greece, most Sarakatsani have abandoned the transhumant way of life and have been urbanised.
context_section_description: The kinship system among the Sarakatsani adheres to a strong patrilineal descent system. When reckoning descent, lineage is traced along the paternal line alone; in determining family relationships, the descendants of a man's maternal and paternal grandparents provide the field from which his recognized kin are drawn. Kinship is not counted beyond the degree of the second cousin. Within the kinship, the family constitutes the significant unit and is a corporate group. A conjugal pair is the core of the extended family, which also includes their unmarried offspring and often their young married sons and their wives. The Sarakatsani kindred constitutes a network of shared obligations and cooperation in situations concerning the honor of its members.
  Their marriages are arranged and there can be no marriage between two members of the same kindred. The bride must bring into the marriage a dowry of household furnishings, clothing and more recently sheep or their cash equivalent. The husband's contribution is his share of the flocks held by his father, which remain held in common by his paternal joint household until some years after his marriage. The newlywed couple initially takes up residence near the husband's family of origin, while divorce and remarriage after widowhood are unknown.
  The concept of honor is of great importance to the Sarakatsani and the behaviour of any member of a family reflects upon all its members. Therefore, the avoidance of negative public opinion provides a strong incentive to live up to the values and standards of propriety held by the community as a whole. Men have as their duty the protection of the family's honor and are watchful of the behaviour of the rest of the members of the household.
caption: Sarakatsani men in West Macedonia, Greece (1935).
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