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bridewealth |
Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.10 sec. |
bridewealthPayment made by the groom or his kin to the kin of the wife in order to ratify the marriage. The practice is common in most parts of the globe in one form or another, but it is perhaps most prevalent in Africa. It is most often a matter of social and symbolic as well as economic reciprocity, being part of a long series of exchanges between the two intermarrying families. It represents a pledge that the wife will be well treated and serves as compensation for her family's loss. Payment may consist of goods or, less frequently, services, and it may be paid in one sum or regularly over a long period of time. See also dowry. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| However, during the colonial period economic changes gave youth new sources of power that they could use to bypass older systems of bridewealth that old men had used to keep them in a position of juniority. Yan's remarkably holistic study manages to link these psychological changes to such transformations as new architectural features in peasant housing, a shift in the nature of bridewealth from an interfamily exchange to a kind of early inheritance, a decline in family size and the fading of filial piety. Men were also presented cloth as gifts (for example, to ease tension in a difficult marriage) or, in certain parts of Madagascar, as bridewealth. |
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