Blood Is Thicker than Water

Abstract

The research took place in two time periods thirty years apart (in 1980–1981 under socialism and in 2009–2010 under the emerging market economy, following the regime change of 1989). It documents the shift from choosing godparents from a combination of relatives and nonrelatives to practically always relatives. After a brief literature review, the article discusses the place of godparenthood in the village in the 1980s, including how godparents were “recruited” and the introduction of the socialist, civil “name-giving ceremony.” Compadres acquired in the civil ceremony were treated similarly to those acquired through baptism, and the “name-giving” system was integrated into the overall system of godparenthood in terms of terminology, obligations, honors, and cooperation in rituals and labor exchange. The latter was an important part of village life: relatives, neighbors, and compadres participated roughly equally. It also contributed to the synergies developed between the production cooperative and peasant household production under socialism. Following 1989, the cooperative closed and labor opportunities declined; labor exchange was replaced by market relations in all aspects of life. The results of a questionnaire on choosing godparents show that the switch from unrelated friends to relatives as godparents was long in the making, slowed somewhat by the contrary trend under the oppressive political circumstances of the early 1950s, indicating that the villagers tried to cement their networks by choosing unrelated compadres. By now, as more and more people are leaving the village, they choose relatives exclusively as if to try to strengthen family ties in the face of modernization and globalization.