First things first – what is polygamy or a polygamous cult?
Imagine Hum Saath Saath Hai, but on a much larger scale. Instead of having just 1 wife, Ramkishen Ji has 20 and instead of having just 4 kids, he has a 100. It’s when one man has multiple wives and multiple children and all of them stay together. It is not something that is seen much often in our society.
However, Canada has one such man practising polygamy named Winston Blackmore, now 64-years-old, who has had 27 wives and as many as 150 children, reports Daily Mail. He is the most famous polygamist in Canada.
One of his sons, 19-year-old Merlin Blackmore, has taken to social media to open up about his unconventional family. It took him a long time to open up about his life, having 27 mothers and innumerable siblings, because he was in an unsafe space. Besides Merlin, two of his brothers – 21-year-old Warren and 19-year-old Murary – have shared their stories online.
When you have so many members in a family, it isn’t a family anymore. It’s more of a cult. They all go to the same school, which is owned by Winston Blackmore – the head of the family. So the children don’t have classmates or friends as such because they attend school with their siblings, nieces, and nephews, reports Times Now.
Merlin says that his eldest sibling is 44-years-old and the youngest is 1-year-old. All kids refer to their biological mother as ‘mum’ and refer to their stepmothers as ‘mother’ followed by their first name. There are kids from different mothers who were born on the same day.
On birthday celebrations, kids closer to the birthday boy/girl’s age would come and their close friends too. Those who had birthdays on the same date or close-by, there would be one grand party.
Instead of living separately, all of them had to live in a ‘motel house’. They would grow their own food too, like vegetables and fruits, because buying food for 150 kids is a hassle.
However, Warren says that things are changing and they are moving out to lead a family life instead of a cult life.
This video shows Merlin telling his story:
Here is an earlier video on the Blackmore family and other such cults:
What do you think of this unusual family? Tell us.