Consanguineous marriages in Iranian folktales.
BACKGROUND
Using folktales we can find some aspects of social customs. Here, I show the situation of consanguineous marriages in folktales from different Iranian populations and try to compare it with the present situation of consanguineous marriages.


METHODS
The study includes tales from 11 different Iranian (ethnic and/or geographical) populations. Overall, the records of 585 marriages in 296 folktales from the study populations were found.


RESULTS
The estimated mean inbreeding coefficient (alpha) for different populations using folktale records is lower than that of the present values. However, there is a very high level of statistically significant correlation between them (r = 0.753, d.f. = 9, p = 0.007).


CONCLUSIONS
The historical background is very important to attitude and practice regarding marriages between relatives.
Saadat
Mostafa
M
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. saadat@susc.ac.ir
D003241:Consanguinity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005495:Folklore; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008393:Marriage / Q000208:ethnology*