Priests and Midwives: Godparenthood and the Cognitive Framing of Kinship and Local Ties

Godparenthood is a distinctive form of ritual kinship associated with Christianity—most strongly developed in Catholic and Orthodox societies. There is general agreement among researchers that it is important both subjectively and practically. Nevertheless, the underlying logic of the system remains rather elusive—since the usual explanations, in terms of either patronage or religious belief, receive rather limited support from the data. Ethnographic evidence shows that the dyadic and triadic relationships of god(co)parenthood often involve neither practical patronage nor spiritual guidance. It is clear that a satisfactory explanation of godparenthood needs to go beyond these surface functions: the question is how? In this article, I argue that there are parallels between god(co)parenthood as it operates in Catholic Europe and the sacralization of kinship ties in segmentary lineage systems found in other parts of the world. In both cases, sacralized kinship ties link individuals to encompassing kinship categories which can also be localized in appropriate ways. I argue that this provides a cognitive framework in which kin-based and locally based cooperation can operate in a mutually sustaining fashion—and that the commitment to god(co)parenthood reflects the felt need for cooperation of this kind. To support this interpretation, I refer to fieldwork in northeast Italy. I also draw on historical and survey data to show that the interpretation is consistent with the history and geography of godparenthood within Europe