In my community, one is advised (Male or female), that whenever you meet someone you feel like you would go the extra mile with, there are specifics you cannot forego. Especially when it’s someone from the same community. You have to ask for their clan. You can’t marry someone from the same clan as you. Under no circumstances. They are basically your sister/brother. But the actual relation to the person may be very distant. Very distant. like 30 generations. You may trace your common relative to like 200 years back or even more.
See, the concept of clan works in tandem with the history of the community.
This is the basic history tree of my community
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- The circled one is my community ancestor
[SIZE=3]- Our folklore states we share ancestry with baminto from south nyanza. I would have to hear theirs if at all we feature in their folklore. @Eng’iti unajua hizi vitu ?[/SIZE]
The numbered ones are the first children of our ancestor. If you come from the same root as someone, you can’t marry them. Well, it’s not allowed. You can still opt to be an outcast and do it anyway. When you marry from the same clan, it’s not different from marrying your brother. I understand the gist is they wanted to avoid genetic issues as can be seen among them inbred rednecks in the South of the USA.
Clan is patri-lineal, you are your father’s clan but hyphenate with your mother’s clan.
After a while, clans were broken down from parent clans into smaller units which as of today, its not hard to find someone you don’t share a clan with. Most people from a certain clan tend to live in certain specific geographic locations. So when “Hunting” for ladies, you are advised to move further away from your village.
This is the full list of our clans and I have highlighted mine. 1. paternal, 2. maternal.
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[SIZE=3]*ava denotes people of or children of, like avaSwahili
*when its one, it turns to mSwahili[/SIZE]
Am a mmtembe mwifa mmuruga or simply mmtembe-mmuruga
So am better off marrying a shiny eye, Luo, kao or converting to Islam and marrying a mnubi than marrying from the same clan.
Which is why I look at some people and just shake my head: People who marry their first cousins. These people
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I suspect the southern part of Africa, it is mostly the Whites in South Africa, Namibian, Zimbabwe, and Botswana doing it. The Northern shade, we all know where that is.
Anyway, have a genetically fortified day.