Andrew says:
>As far as infanticide is concerned, it is common only when children
>are sickly or deformed. The former are a drain on resources, the latter
>are touched by chaos (and their mothers would need to be purified before
>engaging in sex again). The Eiritha women determine whether a child needs
>to be exposed, and the men take the child out and leave it under a bush
>with a gourd of water. Since Foundchild was originally abandoned
>(apparently), Praxians acknowledge that even a sickly child might survive,
>and so give it at least a small chance to live. The cult of Foundchild
>considers raising foundlings as a holy act, although it is not manditory.
IMHO, infanticide is relatively common among the Praxians due to the harsh living conditions under which they suffer. The sickly and deformed children are definitely going to be abandoned, but I think that a certain percentage of healthy infants are left to die simply because the tribes cannot support more unproductive mouths.
When you look at the tribes who have been forced out into the wastes, then I believe that infanticide becomes very common. In fact, in especially harsh years, a majority of the infants would be left out to die.
Do any of our anthropologists out there have infanticide figures from RW nomadic cultures? This might shed some light on the Praxian infanticide question.
I think that leaving a gourd of water with the infant fits my Praxian views quite well. It provides a link between the harsh realities (Gloranthan realities?) and the idealized world of myth as well as providing some sort of solace to the parents who must abandon a child to the wastes.
"Perhaps my little one will be found, just like Foundchild was during the Great Darkness."
What is not quite so clear to me is how much of a role gender plays in deciding who is going to be abandoned. Do the Praxians prefer to keep the girls in an attempt to safeguard the fertility of the herds, or do they keep the boys in hopes of raising warriors to physically protect the herds?
On a personal note to Andrew, thanks for the post. just because I don't agree with everything you say doesn't mean that I did not find much of it to be insightful.
Powered by hypermail