Land Tenure in the Cook Islands
The nuclear family (puna) and the young unmarrieds (mapu)
The nuclear family (puna) and the young unmarrieds (mapu)
The puna consisted of a man, his wife and his children plus and minus adoptees. If a man had more than one wife, the family established by each constituted a separate puna. Each puna then was headed by an adult male (though a polygamous man would be the head of more than one puna). Each household probably comprised several puna and a few young single adults (mapu). The puna appears to have been of little importance economically, its main function being that of a procreating unit.