ABSTRACT

In the preceding chapters we have considered the ways in which the person as a natural being is engaged in a system of kinship and conjugal relationships. Here we turn to another aspect of his character. As a sacred being he becomes interlinked in a complex of spiritual relationships, the compadrazgo. In both systems the individual is enmeshed in ego-centred networks of bonds, but while the first, represented by the surname, continues through time, the second indicated by the Christian name has no perpetuity beyond one generation.