ABSTRACT
The ruling generations exercised political power and controlled much wealth; the retired generation exercised ritual authority and controlled a share of wealth. Competition between generations for marriage cattle was acute between 1934 and 1938. A boy's primary responsibility was to assist his father in hoeing, and hoe in his own mother's field. The 'house property system' was widespread in Africa but varied widely in degree. There was a continuum between those societies in which almost all property was allocated to houses during a man's lifetime, and those in which little was allocated. The tie between mother and daughter remained strong as a girl grew up. Parents and children helped one another in cultivation and in the provision of feasts both before and after sons and daughters married. Above all, they celebrated rituals together at death and birth, marriage and misfortune. Mutual aid and sympathy was due first within a man's own lineage but it extended to his in-laws.
