Posted on 05/29/2007 3:19:18 AM PDT by kronos77
They were born women but chose to be men, guardians of property, wealth and family honour. The price of their power? Celibacy. Antonia Young on the virgins upholding an ancient Albanian tradition
Saturday March 31, 2007 The Guardian
In the rigidly patriarchal society of the remote mountain villages of northern Albania and beyond, they have a unique way of providing a head of the household when there is no male heir, or the men of the family have died in battle. A girl - or her parents - may declare that she has become a "male". From then on, she - now he - will be brought up and dressed as a boy/man, perform male tasks and mix socially as a male with boys. He will become the head of the family, organise the division of labour and wealth, be permitted to carry a weapon and uphold the family honour in blood feuds.
Article continues
It has always been assumed in this region that every unmarried female is a virgin but, with a change of gender, the "sworn virgin" swears to celibacy for life (traditionally an oath to this effect was taken in front of a dozen village elders - all men, of course). He may never revert to the gender of his birth. In this way, inheritance of the family home and land is assured in a society in which women may not inherit property.
When you meet "sworn virgins", you can see at once how they have taken on masculine ways: body language and mannerisms, smoking, spitting on the ground and even a deeper timbre to their voice. Many, though not all, change their names. The men of the village treat them as they do each other.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Ping!
Advice to the Albanians: Save yourselve this circus and let women inherit property. That’s easier and not as embarassing as pretending to be male.
I like a nice, practical, pragmatic solution to problems.
It is comical that they’d rather pretend a woman is a man then just let women inherit property.
Thank you very much. Now do you have a recipe for getting coffee out of a laptop keyboard?
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