I know this is mostly an Asian phenomenon, but people have got a less accurate picture of the concept. You see, extended families not only incorporates blood relatives of closest kin, meaning your direct closest relatives, your uncles & aunts, your cousins, your nephew/s &/or niece/s if you have any, &/or your grandparents. Here in my country, an extended family even goes far as to your cousin/s from your dad or mom's cousin/s, or your blood relatives from as far back as your great grandparents And let's not forget the cases where a father (or grandfather) is/was a GOD DAMN Bastard & had illegitimate children. Yes that last one might make one want to go get an AK47 & massacre all the illegitimate relatives, but sadly things like that are acceptible here And there's also the "legit" second family, wherein the relative re marries after his or her partner dies & he/she becomes a widow/widower. Also, aside from "blood relations", we also honor "relations founded by law or the church". I'm unfamiliar with other countries' tradition regarding baptism, but here the witnesses to the baptism of a child in turn become "legal" parents of the child if an instance so occurs that both the child's parents die & the child's closest kin can not be located. We call these witnesses our Godparents & being one, Christmas time is the one time of the year your wallet literally goes bankrupt LOL Because it is during Christmas time that children "pay a visit" to their Godparents, seeking Christmas presents LOL! I for example live both with my mom & my Godmom seeing as my Godmom was the only person who stood by my mother's side when my BASTARD father left us Another facet of the extended family which actually can be disregarded is that of your closest friends, that is if you do have any LOL In our culture, if you grew up with a friend or a group of friends, usually your neighbors or classmates from way, way back & your families know each other, that friendship becomes somewhat of a "family" with no relations what so ever, unless you & your friend end up marrying each other then you'll definitely have a "legal" connection to one another. And I guess, with how RomUlation's community is going, we could call this our global online family as well
