Dowry: Historical Definition and Modern Abolition

Dowry

Dowry, what is it? A dowry is defined as “Property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage.” (Google) Now this is not practiced very much in modern day times, but there was a time where this was a very common practice. So we are going to take a look at how this process happened. The way that we are going to do this is by conducting a cross cultural research project on eight cultures, by using a standard reference database in Anthropology.

During the wedding ceremony, the custom of giving away the bride was a way to show that the dowry had already been set up and that the father was accepting of it. This is what interest me about this project, coming from a different culture it is weird thinking about your father getting payed to have you marry someone you probably don’t love.

Now we are going to take a look at our first of eight cultures being the Suku culture of africa which was chosen due to the fact that I have never heard of them before and figured it would be interesting.

On average, when your traditional marriage happened, it involved a transfer of rights from the females lineage to the males in exchange for money and a “sacrificial goat.” Some of these things included are the rights to a sons lifetime assistance and to a portion of the daughters bride wealth for a mediation for rearing her. This also includes the rights to her domestic and agricultural labor along with the rights of sexual exclusion and possession.

Although when it comes to the lineage filiation rights, they do remain with the wife lineage. In addition to this if anything such as a divorce and/ or the death of the wife, the transfers get reversed. What is interesting is that the amount of what is returned (Bride Wealth) is less for each of the children and the duration of the wife’s services. Another interesting point is that is the female remarries within the lineage there is no reimbursement due.

The second culture is the Ubena this culture was chosen due to the fact that their marriage is cross cousin. For them, In the past, the bride wealth was broken up into three parts, or “hoes” with each of these hoes playing the role of being separate payment that will fulfill a special function. Although do to the ranching lifestyle, there were times where cattle and goats were thrown into the agreement. The interesting this to me was that the Mtema does not have to pay the bride wealth when the marriage is cross cousin, and he sometimes declares Watwa Wenyelutenana, from these payments in similar circumstances. As a result of this, the cross cousins are looked at as his wards. He then had more matrimonial control that the parents did. If the female in this situation had already reached puberty the so called “suitor” will most likely obtain her consent secretly, they will then present her with an object such as a stick or piece of string as a token

For the third culture I picked the Yi culture, I chose them due to their range of freedom being quite a bit. The marriage type for the Yi culture is usually a monogamous one. The partners for marriage must have the sank rank among the culture along with they must be of a different patrilineage. When it comes to who they marry, they are like the Ubena. The reason I say this is because cross cousin marriage is preferred, whereas marriage with ones parallel cousins is strictly prohibited. In the past, parents had the final say in the arrangement of a marriage even though young people had considerable social freedom compared to the Han population. Another aspect tied to the marriage is that it is quite normal for the bride’s family to ask for a heavy betrothal price, particularly among the Black Yi. Delayed transfer marriage was common, with the young bride remaining at her parental home until the first child was born. In some instances, ceremonial kidnapping of the bride was the custom. On the grooms side, he would have pre arranged people at a certain time to take the girl and carry her away on horseback to the groom house.

For my fourth culture I chose the Gond, I chose them due to the fact that they are so different from the other cultures being able to work for the bride. Among them, as in many other parts of tribal India, there is an arrangement whereby youths from poor families who cannot afford the price of a bride can serve for her for three, five or seven years. In Bastar such a youth is known as Lamhada, Lamanai, Lamsena or Ghar Jamai. The relations between the Lamhada and his future parents in law is not always a happy one, and it is complicated by the intimate proximity in which he has to live with the girl to whom he is not yet married. Sometimes, however, especially if the Lamhada happens to make the girl pregnant, the marriage is celebrated before the end of his term of service, making them different from the other cultures that I have chosen thus far.

For my fifth culture I chose the Toda, the reason I chose them was due to their tendencies. Child marriage is regularly practised, little Toda boys and girls being betrothed before they are three years old, preferably to their matchuni or cross cousin, that is, the son or daughter of their father’s sister or of their mother’s brother. If no matchuni properly speaking is available, some other child, classified as such by extension of the term in accordance with Toda kinship usages, is generally chosen, the rules of endogamy and exogamy being, of course, observed.

For my sixth culture I chose the Nenets. In exchange for the bride-price the parents of the bride provide her with a dowry. For each 8 reindeer which they obtained from the bridegroom, they give a sledge to which are harnessed two reindeer, a choom, several nyuk, women’s clothing, baked bread, cow’s butter and venison, and at the end of each year the daughter comes to the father and takes away one reindeer. Both sides, having come to an agreement, grow freer in their conversation and designate a day for receiving the payment for the bride; then the groom’s father invites 129 the outsiders who, having helped catch the reindeer, now all ride to the bride’s choom, where the matchmaker slaughters a reindeer as a treat for the bride’s relatives, and the bride’s father reciprocates with the same thing, and presentations of raw meat begin on both sides.

For my seventh culture I chose Iban. The boy says that he has been thinking for sometime about marrying the girl, but he has not dared to visit her until now to tell her of his intention. The girl may reply that she will marry one day, but marry a man who has done something worthwhile to prove himself.

For my eighth culture I chose Ila. Each kraal group possesses a number of cattle which are said to be owned by the residential collectivity. These cattle, known as ing’ombe chibuwe also known as cattle of the hearth, are the collective resource pool from which residential supporters and non-residential kinsmen may ostensibly draw upon to meet their social obligations cattle for bridewealth, cattle for ritual slaughter, cattle for exchanges and loans, or cattle for paying compensation. It is anticipated that the pool will be replenished through natural increase, cattle received as bridewealth, as an exchange or a loan, as a share of an estate, or as a compensatory payment. Hearth cattle, however, are not seen as a grab bag from which group supporters may freely help themselves when an occasion of need arises.