# Compadre

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Relationship between the parents and godparents of a child

For the record label, see [Compadre Records](/source/Compadre_Records). For the screamo band, see [Comadre (band)](/source/Comadre_(band)). For the 2016 Mexican film, see [Compadres (film)](/source/Compadres_(film)).

The term **compadre** (Spanish: [\[komˈpaðɾe\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Spanish), Portuguese: [\[kõˈpaðɾɨ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Portuguese), literally "co-father" or "co-parent") denotes the relationship between the parents and [godparents](/source/Godparents) of a child and is an important bond that originates when a child is [baptised](/source/Baptism). It is widespread in Iberian, Latin American, Filipino Christian and Indian Goan [Christian Brahmin](/source/Christian_Brahmin) families, as well as in some countries of [Eastern Europe](/source/Eastern_Europe), such as [Russia](/source/Russia) and [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine).

The abstract nouns **compadrazgo** (Spanish and Filipino) and **compadrio** (Portuguese), both meaning "co-parenthood," are sometimes used to refer to the institutional relationship between *compadres*.[1][2][3]

At the moment of baptism, the godparents and natural parents become each other's *compadres* (the plural form *compadres* includes both male and female co-parents). The female equivalent of *compadre* is **comadre** (Spanish: [\[koˈmaðɾe\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Spanish), Portuguese: [\[kuˈmaðɾɨ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Portuguese)). Thus, the child's father will call the child's godmother "comadre," while she will call him "compadre," and so on.

In Portugal, the term is colloquially also used to refer to the parents of both parts of a couple.

## In Western Europe and Latin America

From the moment of a baptism ceremony, the [godparents](/source/Godparents) (godfather and godmother, *padrino* and *madrina* in Spanish, *padrinho* and *madrinha* in Portuguese, *ninong* and *ninang* in Filipino) share the parenting role of the baptised child with the natural parents. By Catholic doctrine, upon the child's baptism, the godparents accept the responsibility to ensure that the child is raised according to the dictates of the Catholic faith and to ensure the child pursues a life of improvement and success (through education, marriage, personal development, and so forth).

Traditionally, among Iberians and Latin Americans, this relationship formalizes a pre-existing friendship which results in a strong lifelong bond between *compadres*. In its original form, the *compadre* relationship is among the strongest types of family love soon after one's [nuclear family](/source/Nuclear_family). In many Latin American societies, lifelong friends or siblings who have always spoken to each other informally (using the informal Spanish second-person pronoun *tú*) may mark their new *compadre* relationship by using respectful or formal speech (using the formal Spanish second-person pronoun *usted*).

A number of other ritual occasions are considered to result in a *compadre* relationship in various Latin American societies. These may include ritual sponsorship of other Catholic sacraments (first communion, confirmation, and marriage); sponsorship of a *[quinceañera](/source/Quincea%C3%B1era)* celebration; and, in Peru, sponsorship of a ritual first haircut ceremony that normally takes place when a child turns three years old.

*Compadrazgo* has its roots in medieval European Catholicism. The [Doge of Venice](/source/Doge_of_Venice) [Pietro II Orseolo](/source/Pietro_II_Orseolo) worked all his life for creating solid contacts with the contemporary monarchs, achieving good relationships with the [Byzantine Empire](/source/Byzantine_Empire). On the other hand, he approximated to [Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor](/source/Otto_III%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) and eventually named him literally with the title of *compadre*, which meant "the co-father of the Venetian Doge's children". Otto specially liked this, and became the children's godfather.[4]

The classic Spanish novel [Don Quixote](/source/Don_Quixote) (1605–1615) contains several references to *compadres*; however, the *compadre* relationship has much less formal meaning in modern Spain, where it is a reference both to a godfather/*padrino* or just to a best friend, with no reference to any ritual. The expression is in use particularly in southern Spain. In medieval England, parents and godparents called each other "godsibs" (that is, "God siblings"). The only trace of this old Catholic English practice in modern English is the word [gossip](/source/Gossip), presumably a reference to the propensity of close companions such as *compadres* to chat and gossip with one another. In Spanish, the verb *comadrear* (from *comadre*) similarly means "to gossip," as does the French cognate *commérage* (from *commère*).

The term *compadre* has been extended in some regions, such as Brazil, to describe a common relationship between two good friends. In the [Alentejo](/source/Alentejo) region of Portugal, *compadre* is a term used as an informal manner of address between any two, usually elderly, male acquaintances. In Argentina and Paraguay, the word is used in popular speech (especially in the diminutive, *compadrito*) to mean "braggart, loud-mouth, bully." However, among more traditional Latin American and Hispanic/Latino families, the word retains its original meaning and symbolism, and for its members, to be asked to be a *padrino* or *compadre* is a great, lifelong honor.

## See also

- [Christianity portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Christianity)

- [Human bonding](/source/Human_bonding)

- [Bro (subculture)](/source/Bro_(subculture))

- [Kum (godfather)](/source/Kum_(godfather))

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** "Counting on Kin: Social Networks, Social Support, and Child Health Status." Shawn Malia Kana'iaupuni, Katharine M Donato, Theresa Thompson-Colón, Melissa Stainback. Social Forces. Chapel Hill: Mar 2005.Vol.83, Iss. 3; pg. 1137, 28 pgs

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Las Comadres as a social support system." Rebecca A Lopez. Affilia. Thousand Oaks: Spring 1999.Vol.14, Iss. 1; pg. 24, 18 pgs.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "The Forgotten Liberator: Buenaventura Martínez and Yucatán's Republican Restoration." Terry Rugeley. Mexican Studies. Berkeley: Summer 2003.Vol.19, Iss. 2; pg. 331

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Katus László: Németország történeti gyökerei. In: Rubicon, 1999 1-2, pp. 4-8

## Bibliography

- Alum, R., 1977, "El Parentesco Ritual en un Batey Dominicano [Ritual Kinship in a Dominican Batey]," Revista Eme-Eme. Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic: Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra; V (26): 11-36.

- Berruecos, L., 1976, El Compadrazgo en América Latina; Análisis Antropológico de 106 Casos. México: Instituto Indigenista Interamericano.

- Foster, G., 1953, “Cofradia and compadrazgo in Spain and Spanish America,” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology; 9:1-28.

- Gudeman, S.; & S. B. Schwartz, 1984, Cleansing Original Sin; Godparenthood and Baptism of Slaves in 18th-Century Bahia; IN: R. T. Smith, ed.; Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; pp. 35–58.

- Nutini, Hugo, and Betty Bell, 1980, Ritual Kinship: The Structure of the Compadrazgo System in Rural Tlaxcala. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

- Nutini, Hugo, 1984, Ritual Kinship: Ideological and Structural Integration of the Compadrazgo System in Rural Tlaxcala. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

- Ossio, J., 1984, Cultural Continuity, Structure, and Context; Some Peculiarities of the Andean Compadrazgo; IN: R. T. Smith, ed.; Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; pp. 118–46.

- Velez‐Calle, A., Robledo‐Ardila, C., & Rodriguez‐Rios, J. D. (2015). On the influence of interpersonal relations on business practices in Latin America: A comparison with the Chinese guanxi and the Arab Wasta. Thunderbird International Business Review, 57(4), 281-293.

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