Your
cousins are (generally speaking) your aunts' and uncles' kids.
They
may help you from going crazy during long Thanksgiving feasts, or
they may drive you crazy at family birthday parties! They may be
almost exactly your age, or they may seem to be an entire generation
older or younger than you. You may see your cousins every single
week, or you may have never met them before in your life.
Whatever
the case, consider visiting or calling your cousins today to catch up
or to make new memories!
Did
you know...?
Different
societies keep track of (and name) different relatives...well,
differently! For example, in traditional Iroquois culture, your
father's brothers are called the Iroquois word for “father,” just
as your actual father is! However, your father's sisters are called
“aunt.” In the same way, your mother's sisters are called the
Iroquois word for “mother,” but your mother's brothers are called
“uncle.” Your father's brother's kids are not called “cousins,”
as they would be in the modern U.S. society—instead, they are your
brothers and sisters. But your father's mother's kids are considered
your cousins. These are just some of the differences between Iroquois
and my own kinship systems.
People
of South Sudan, in Africa, have different names for your father's
brother and for your mother's brother. (Let's say, “funcle” for
your uncle on your father's side, and “muncle” for the one on
your mother's side.) The Sudanese have a different name yet for your
mother's sister's husband, and another name for your father's
sister's husband. So there are four different sorts of names for the
various people I would call “uncles.” The same is true for all
the varying sorts of aunts, and there are eight different kin names
for all the different sorts of cousins!
Even
in my own society, there are a lot of kin terms that I don't really
know or use. For example, who is my second cousin once removed? Well,
my second cousin is my grandpa's sister's grandchild, whoever he or
she may be (let's says it's a she, and her name is Sally)—well, in
that case my second cousin once removed would be Sally's child! See,
I really don't know who those people are; if I met them on the street
and asked what our relationship was, I would say “stranger”! And
this is my own kinship system I'm talking about!
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on this date:
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