Kathy,
Great points -- apparently there is a saying: "You never know who your
father is, you always know your mother". My research on matriarchy
suggests that there was a time when the role of the father was not
clearly understood, and that was a time when the mother-child
relationship was primary, as I was talking about. But I was studying
literature at the time (it's a long story!). What does your research
show? My husband was raised in an aboriginal culture in Northern Brazil
or Venezuela (not sure which, another long story) which he calls a
grandmother culture (the mother cared for the children, the grandmother
passed on other wisdom, I guess); essentially no European contact until
they came into the village and killed most of them. Anyway, this is
quite a different upbringing, but perhaps proof some matrifocal
societies still exist or did so until recently; most aboriginal
traditions are quit "mother-friendly".
Sometimes Carlos and I feel we are making this all up (his memories, my
research) etc. I suppose that doesn't matter; it's still a neat way to
raise our brood. But is it possible that such societies have existed or
do exist?

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