La parenté baptismale à Minot (Côte-d'Or)

Baptismal parentage in Minot Utilizing both written and oral sources, the author analyzes baptismal sponsorship in a commune of Northern Burgundy characterized by open-field agriculture and closely grouped dwellings. An historical study reveals that an evolution has occurred with regard both to ritual and to the choice of spiritual parents. Between the end the seventeenth century and our days the ritual has moved from ceremonial discretion to an ostentatious social display. As to the choice of spiritual parents, one observes the elimination of both maternal and paternal ancestors in favor of collaterals. This vertical compression, which is accompanied by an extension into the collateral domain, must be seen in connection with many other phenomena : demography, economics, the transmission of first names, etc But it aims essentially, we believe at promoting a matrimonial strategy. Baptismal sponsorship, such as it exits today in Minot, serves principally to establish contacts between groups vho seek spouses and groups who offer them.Zonabend Françoise. La parenté baptismale à Minot (Côte-d'Or). In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 33ᵉ année, N. 3, 1978. pp. 656-676