Milk Sister

The Circassian/Adyge designation “Milk-sister,” respectively “Milk-brother,” is rooted in an ancient tradition of adoption. It was a means used to put an end to or to prevent a blood feud amongst clans. In a special ceremony, the member of one clan would place his lips around the nipples of a woman of the other clan. By pretending to suck on her breast, a symbolic kinship was forged between the “milk-brother” and the opposing clan, putting an end to the feud. In the OC’s Book One, all members of the Masks of God are milk-sisters, given that the initiation ceremony involves a symbolic suckling on the breast of the Grandmother of Dreams. See Circassians - Sociopolitical Organization; Milk kinship.