ABSTRACT
Because of the processual character of customary marriage in Beparasy it is often difficult to judge whether marital unions have been blessed by both sides. This chapter explains that getting this kind of information is crucial when discussing ‘mixed unions’ between free and slave descendants, because it is essential to discriminate between those mixed marriages that may have been accepted by the descent groups involved and those that have not. A mixed couple can be viewed as ‘appropriately’ married by some and not by others, since such a couple will receive blessings from the senior members on the slave descent side but not from those on the free descent side. Whereas for the slave descent group the couple is considered to be ‘in the process’ of customary marriage, it is not really considered as such from the point of view of the free descent family, and they do not think they are bound by the customary duties towards relatives.
