The Social or matriarchal took precedence of the Local or patriarchal organization.
The show focuses on the inner workings and dynamics of larger, working class families with a strong matriarchal character at the helm of each family.
In her book on the subject published in 2003, Tina Hobin suggests that it evolved out of "fertility cults, religious rituals, magic and secular dances" designed to worship matriarchal deities.
The first was matriarchal, inheritance being reckoned through the mother.
Polygamy is general in upper Bagirmi, where some traces of a matriarchal stage of society linger, one small state being called Beled-el-Mra, "Women's Land," because its ruler is always a queen.
