| Description |
Mongolians carefully maintain knowledge of their genealogies, which can stretch back to ancient times. Accounts of the descent of their relatives and children help to define families as a unique social unit and as a site for a process of biological and social inheritance. It is a sacred duty to trace one’s genealogical descent well. The paternal relative is agnatic, the maternal relative is cognate. Our ancestors knew their genealogy back seven generations, starting from themselves and their father and extending back to their grandfather, (elents) great-grandfather, (khulants) great-great-grandfather, (öndör) great-great-great-grandfather and (zürkhen) great-great-great-great-grandfather. They trace children starting from themselves to their son, (jich) grandson, (guch) great-grandson, (döch) great-great-grandson and (tach) great-great-great-grandson. |
