It just so happened that in difficult times of our lives the closest and dearest people come to the rescue. It is they who during this period become a reliable support and protection. Among the people there is a belief that says: "Where you can’t cope alone, there will help the clan."
A man is only one branch in a large family tree. Now there is a very great interest in knowing family roots. Genealogy does this. She helps to make a family tree. It can be drawn in the form of a graphic diagram, which can be ascending - from the known oldest ancestor to descendants, or descending - from you to the ancestors. Family relations are clearly visible here. It is advisable for each person in the family tree to have a separate card, where they indicate all the information about her. For example: "The wife of the brother of the wife is Ivanova Maria Ivanovna, year of birth, children."
Since a person acquires ever new relatives during his life, the scheme will become more and more ramified. Some concepts are familiar from childhood: dad, mom, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law. But some are very difficult to figure out. For example, the wife of a brother of a wife - who is this? Sister, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law?
Family relationship terms are striking in variety. They originated in Ancient Russia. The following types of relationship are:
- blood, unifying a common ancestor;
- not blood, uniting a marriage;
- spiritual, uniting godfathers.
The most complex system is the blood relationship, which has several degrees. Each generation has its own niche in the family tree. Children - this is the first degree of kinship, grandchildren - the second, etc. Second cousins ​​and brothers - this is the sixth step.
A completely different story with non-blood relatives. Spouses are not relatives at all. Only marriage connects them. Relatives of the spouse or spouse become indirect family members.
- The son’s wife is a daughter-in-law.
- The spouse's brother is brother-in-law.
- The wife of the brother of the wife is daughter-in-law.
- The spouse's brother is a brother-in-law.
- The wife's sister is a sister-in-law.
Interestingly, the man is his son-in-law and mother-in-law, and father-in-law, and brother-in-law. Spouses of two sisters are considered brother-in-law, but sister-in-law is not the wife of two brothers. The wife of the brother of the wife is not only a daughter-in-law, she is also called a daughter-in-law.
The ability and desire to find a common language with representatives of the older generation and live with them in harmony is not given to everyone. For a long time there was such a tradition that a son brought his wife into the house. She did not dare to contradict the mother-in-law. If the wife of an older brother lived in the house, then she took custody of the younger daughter-in-law, helped her to get comfortable in a new family, taught all the tricks, shared her experience. When a child appeared in a young family, the brother’s wife, the daughter-in-law, helped with the housework: fed the men, laundered.
This is exactly what the large family looked like, which did one common thing, they were a team. Everything in the house was shared, and no one divided anything into yours-mine. The family taught patience, respect, honored elders. Times have changed, and now it’s better for different generations to live separately, since living together increases the number of disagreements, which leads to quarrels and divorces. Now they even say that the further relatives live, the more dear they are.