The transition from primitive population stage to matriarchal clan society was completed under the impetus of the improvement of productivity level. The change from consanguineous marriage to extraclan marriage is a key factor in the change of social nature. After several generations of reproduction, the blood clan of primitive people will inevitably split into new blood clans due to the increasing population, resulting in the lack of food sources and affecting life. The new consanguineous family still practices internal consanguineous marriage. Although endogamy can maintain the relative stability of the original population, the blood relationship between married men and women is too close, which makes the offspring prone to congenital diseases, or poor physique and mental retardation, thus weakening the ability to compete with nature. As Zuo Zhuan said, "Men and women share the same surname, but life is not uncommon". Endogamy has lasted for a long time in human history, which is the crux of the slow development of productive forces in the primitive stage.
Endogamy has done great harm to human evolution, and its serious consequences have gradually attracted people's attention. The division of consanguineous families constantly produces new consanguineous families. These consanguineous families are still inextricably linked, and there is inevitably intermarriage between men and women in every consanguineous family. It is gradually found that the children born of intermarriage between men and women of all blood groups are stronger in physical strength and intelligence than those born of intermarriage between men and women of the same blood group. People finally realize that the farther the blood relationship between married men and women is, the stronger the children will be. Due to the strong influence of traditional ideas, the transition from endogamy to exogamy is very slow. At first, only the marriage between the closest brothers and sisters was excluded, and later the marriage between the collateral brothers and sisters with closer blood relationship was excluded. Finally, men and women in the blood clan, regardless of their peers, are forbidden to get married. In this way, a blood group-clan was born.
Extraethnic marriage is an interactive group marriage between a group of sisters of one clan and a group of brothers of another clan, forming a clan system with an old grandmother as the core. This man married another clan and was buried in the public cemetery of this clan after his death. Although this marriage relationship is not stable, it makes the clan obviously different from the blood family in the past. In this form of group marriage, children still only recognize their biological mothers but not their fathers, and the lineage of clan members can only be determined according to maternal lineage. Several descendants of the same mother's ancestors formed a clan. Because visiting relatives to get married, men and women divorce impermanently, and men return from dusk to early morning, so children generally don't confirm their biological fathers. Children are raised by mothers, but fathers have no right to raise children. Father and son are not of the same ancestry, and they are not related by blood. Even when they meet, they are like strangers. Matrilineal descent is the bond that maintains the existence of the clan. After the clan expanded, it separated and established a new clan. Clans who intermarry form tribes.
In the early days of matriarchal clan society in ancient customs, there were still traces of group marriage outside the clan. This group marriage is mostly carried out in the form of wild mating. "Zhou Li Local Official Situxia": "Mid-spring Moon brings men and women together, so when it comes, runners can't bear it." "Guizhou Tongzhi" Volume 7: "When Meng Chun was old, Miao Hua would meet men and women in the wild, which was called Yueyue. Choosing Pyongyang as the moon field, colorful men playing lusheng, women ringing bells, singing and dancing, making waves all day long, and returning privately at dusk is better than Mix. "
The records of kinship appellation system in ancient literature also retain traces of matriarchal clan system. Er Ya Qin Shi: "Men call sisters' sons sons sons, women call brothers' sons nephews, sons grandsons and nephews' sons grandsons". Matriarchal clans intermarry with other clans, and one clan can intermarry with many other clans or between two clans. What is said in Er Ya belongs to the latter. Because a sister's son has to leave his clan to marry another clan, he said so. The son born is not born in his own family, but he is a grandson in terms of seniority, so he keeps his grandson. Because my brother is married to the other clan, the son born to the woman of the other clan will return to my brother's clan to get married, so he is called a nephew. The nephew's son was born in his own home, so he is called grandson.
The system of group marriage outside the clan once existed widely, which enabled people to get a glimpse of the early marriage forms in matriarchal clan society. This kind of marriage is characterized by a collective way, no fixed spouse, and no strict restrictions on age and seniority. However, marriage between clan members is strictly prohibited.
Intermarriage is a great progress in the history of human marriage, which is far-reaching compared with marriage of the same generation under endogamy. The evolution law of all things in nature is natural selection and survival of the fittest. Clans who intermarry outside the clan have high IQ and strong physique, and their overall strength is obviously better than that of consanguineous families who still practice endogamy. In the process of social development at that time, it played an indisputable leading role.
"Group marriage outside the race" extends to "husband and wife marriage"
The matriarchal clan system prohibits internal marriage, and clan members engage in group marriage outside the clan. Because of the custom of extramarital marriage, children follow their mothers, which is a country without fathers and husbands. As a result of exogamy, husband and wife are separated in their respective matriarchal clans, and their marriage life takes the form of husband visiting his wife. Children live in the mother's house and belong to the matriarchal clan, and the lineage and property inheritance are based on the matriarchal family. During the prosperity of matriarchal clan, due to the appearance and gradual consolidation of pairing marriage, the husband moved to his wife's clan to live with his wife. "Marriage" means going back and forth. That is, men don't marry and women don't marry, and both men and women produce and live in their respective matriarchal families for life. Apart from love relationship, there is no necessary family economic relationship. Children live with their mothers and are raised by their families. The man gives help and care according to his own financial ability. After a woman establishes a relationship with a man, the man usually goes to the woman's house for the night after the end of the day's work, and then returns to his home in the morning to start a new day's work. The relationship between the two sides is based on pure feelings, with high freedom, low pressure and weak stability, and it is difficult to breed the concepts of monopoly and subordination. Once the relationship breaks down, the divorce is free, the children follow their mothers, there is no property dispute, and there is generally no hostility.
The performance characteristics of walking marriage:
(1) don't necessarily live together (most of them still live in their parents' homes)
(2) Non-economic isomorphism
(3) It is not the basic unit of society (family residence is)
(4) non-specificity.
(5) lust is not exclusive
(6) the system of indefinite birth mother residence (women and men live together, taking care of not only their own children, but also their nephews and nieces)
(7) No legal contract (mostly refusing to register for marriage)
Pay attention to the privacy of marriage:
There is only one kind of privacy in the marriage-walking culture, that is, sexual problems related to blood relatives-you can take a bath in hot springs, but you can't mention any topics related to sex with your family; It is acceptable to have sex with many people. There is no concept of virgin, illegitimate child or unmarried mother, but even the words mentioned in the house are considered extremely taboo.
Shyness is a cultural mechanism to prevent incest. The matriarchal clan controls incest very strictly, and relatives are not allowed to divorce within five generations.
Shy culture forbids consanguineous marriage, even any sexual topic in language. This powerful defense mechanism makes children have a strong sense of morality since childhood, and they feel uneasy about mentioning sex in front of blood relatives, thus making it difficult for sexual relations between blood relatives to occur.
Shy culture is not aimed at sex itself, but incest taboo, which avoids not the relationship between men and women, but the sexual relationship between blood relatives Therefore, there is no influence of shy culture between husband and married woman and boy, and ordinary friends are not restricted by it. Members of matrilineal families are generally composed of brothers and sisters with the same maternal blood relationship and children of female members. For example, from the perspective of the third generation of men in a family of four generations, the first generation is composed of his grandmother's mother and her sisters and brothers. Women are collectively called "A Ri" (grandma) and men are collectively called "A Pu" (grandpa); The second generation consists of his mother and brothers and sisters. Women are collectively called "Amy" (mother) and men are collectively called "Awu" (uncle); The third generation consists of his brothers and sisters and the children of his mother and sisters. There is no difference between several children. Older women and men are collectively referred to as "A Mu" (elder sister and brother), while younger women are called "Gerry" (younger brother) and "Gu Mi" (younger sister). The fourth generation consists of his sister's children, who are called "Ren Wu" (nephew) and "Ren Mi" (niece). But in fact, family members are not limited to blood, but can also supplement the labor force or inherit through adoption, returning home, marriage and adoption.
The parents of matriarchal families are usually the oldest and most capable women. For example, in Mosuo language, the mother's name is "Amy", and all middle-aged women, whether unmarried or married, have given birth or single, are called Amy. In essence, it transcends the patriarchal view of private property rights, does not reduce the value of women to a thin so-called "hymen", does not think that it is necessary to get married and have children to become a "real woman", and does not think that a woman's happiness lies in finding a husband who really loves her. There is no distinction between mother, foster mother, stepmother and stepmother in matriarchal families, and there is no logic of exclusion and jealousy of private property rights. In a big family, there is not even a mother and an aunt. Women regard their sister's children as their own and pay the same care as their parents, so that children often don't know who their biological mothers are.
Female origin and male end
Giving birth to a child is entirely a woman's business. When a woman is pregnant, a man can't remarry, and Amy and her sisters take care of her. After the child is born, there is a full moon wine for women only, and the mother and sister of the child's father bring gifts to congratulate him.
Death is a man's business, and women must stand aside. All funerals are done by men, and women should stay away.
The life language of Mosuo people is matriarchal thinking. When Mosuo people speak Chinese, they are always used to the order of women first and men later. For example, "monogamy" means "monogamy". Oedipus in western society and mother worship in China society are all based on belittling women: always playing the role of victim to take care of others is a good woman, and pursuing personal goals without taking care of others is a bad woman. Beautifying women as great mothers is actually a means to control women. Only by playing the role of victim and caregiver and becoming a mother with words of suffering can women be respected.
Just like respecting mothers, matriarchal women's lust space and gender subject consciousness are extremely distinct, and there is no binary opposition between "mother and woman" and "good woman and bad woman". The key lies in the family culture that values the mother's family over the public: the basic unit of matriarchal culture and social operation is not an independent individual or small family, but a family. Therefore, in the value system of matrilineal society, family reputation rather than personal reputation is emphasized, and family harmony rather than personal achievement is emphasized. Therefore, in matriarchal society, the public concept is weak, and solving problems mainly depends on family consultation.
Although matriarchal patriarchs are mainly women, they are not based on biological gender. When a woman is in power, she will not help her, but suppress men. Sometimes when a man is in charge, he will follow the female thinking of a harmonious family and house, regardless of you and me.
The core of matriarchal culture is not marriage, but harmony, and matriarchal society has no more important value.