Territory
#Territory
Every family has a territory. Most families define themselves first as those who tend and belong to a particular territory, and as a genealogical unit only second (if at all). They tend not to understand territory as a particular parcel of space, such as one might draw borders around, but rather as a collection of places. Different families define trespass differently, with some holding to much more exacting rules, but in general every family has places where no one should go, places where only the family should go, and places where strangers can approach. Rather than a well-defined territory with borders, one can imagine these territories as a collection of points. Approaching any of these points involves a greater degree of trespass, and some places may mean a more egregious trespass than others. Sometimes the rules vary — from one season to the next, for example. And families vary on how much offense they take at such trespasses and how far they’re willing to go to punish a trespasser.