The intention of brand new Cuban quince routine isn’t to prepare the girl to possess marriage, however for sexual life and you can via it, probably to breeding and you may motherhood
About performances of one’s quince ritual, the latest girl’s sexuality isn’t directed to a-one unmarried son who would show this lady husband to be, but rather toward males as a whole, worrying the girl position because the a separate, but really heterosexually-centered seductress. So it usually turned clear within this annually or two of the routine because the many of my personal younger informants had a tendency to become pregnant on their arms, perhaps not a husband. Motherhood doesn’t need marriage regarding the Caribbean therefore the while making of a female into the a completely gendered, heterosexual adult woman is more crucial than just her signing up for a guy in-marriage. The mother of one’s woman takes on an incredibly unique character inside the this action, the cause of that’s uncovered in the Cuban kinship framework.
Quince and you may Caribbean Matrifocality
Quince – because the a ritual made by people, and remembering Cuban ladies because probably reproductive seductresses – is connected to the Cuban kinship design, and to the matrifocal kinship framework largely prevalent on the Caribbean. 18
Kinship interactions among my Cuban informants had been characterised of the a strong matrifocal tendency, an element that is proven to signify Caribbean communities within the an effective a great deal more general feel. 19 Whenever you are matrifocality has actually will already been designated just like the an Afro-Caribbean family form particularly (e.grams. Clarke 1974: 75, 131; Smith 1974: xi), other people see it as characterising kinship relations in your community significantly more extensively (e.g. Safa 2005). We detailed zero particularly ‘racial’ otherwise ‘ethnic’ variations in Cuban kinship affairs, once the exhibited, for example, from the reality extremely family certainly my personal informants was in fact very ‘mixed’ with regards to facial skin the color. On such basis as my fieldwork, I glance at Cuban kinship only lads ekЕџi relationships to own a powerful matrifocal interest far more essentially (find as well as ibid.).
Regarding the classical definition of the latest Caribbean matrifocality created by the R.T. Smith, it’s top that the woman within her part given that mom will get the latest hub out of family relations (1996a: 42). As the family are derived from the relationship between your mother therefore the boy, dads usually have college students in numerous some other property, whereas the ladies often have all their people managing him or her (Olwig 1996: 138). Guys are usually thought to be marginalised because the fathers, however the power of your own consanguine thread makes them faithful due to the fact sons, brothers and you can uncles (Smith 1974: xi; Smith 1996a: 14). That the father is normally ‘missing’ in the family framework (we.e. he lifestyle someplace else) produces an over-all emphasis on matrilateral kinship interactions. 20 The general fret away from kinship relations is found on the newest mommy is emphasised in the way in which my Cuban informants usually emphasised the primary duty of your own mommy more college students with a beneficial proverb saying: “mom is just one together with dad anyone who” (madre es la sola y padre cualquiera 2007).
By good increased exposure of motherhood, it’s the girls’ puberty ritual that’s worth addressing when you look at the Cuban people. Lifecycle traditions build especially obvious brand new central societal departments off a good society (find van Gennep 1960), and additionally they can also represent the most important personal viewpoints away from a culture (discover elizabeth.grams. Huntington & Metcalf 1979: 2). Lifecycle traditions thus hook up when you look at the very important implies for the structure regarding kinship affairs, as included the social categories and you will opinions relevantly identifying personal existence is actually made instance evident.
Girls’ changeover on fully gendered and you will sexual grownups try main while the of the important part while the parents in the kin design. When you’re transformed into an older mature the lady is also transformed into a possible mommy. It is tall into girl’s mommy since growth of the matrifocal kin group speeds up their condition as a mind from the fresh new kin classification. She actually is cherished since she can claim to enjoys delivered another member able to growing the latest matrifocal kinship build. Due to this quince is indeed necessary for the fresh new women’s mom, as to the reasons this woman is congratulated unofficially of the woman child and you will often keeps a central standing from the organisation of your own occasion. This rewards her fifteen years away from effort in the elevating regarding their and you may can make the lady at some stage in the long term, a prospective grandma or great grandmother, this new acknowledged lead away from a beneficial matrifocal kin class. 21