{"concept":"Bride price, dowry and gifts between families","intro":"In very many societies a marriage joins two families, and goods change hands between them: livestock, cash, gold, cloth, land or a signed promise. Practices differ sharply. Bride price and mahr go towards the bride or her family, dowry travels with the bride to her new home, and many places exchange gifts both ways. Some of these customs are loved and legal, and some, above all dowry demands, have caused real harm and are banned in several countries.","editorial_comparison":[{"country_code":"IN","place":"India","text":"Dowry (dahej) has been prohibited since the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, and later laws added penalties for cruelty linked to dowry demands. Gifts at weddings remain common across communities, and campaigners and many couples now reject demands for them, especially cash and consumer goods."},{"country_code":"BD","place":"Bangladesh","text":"Dowry (joutuk) is illegal under the Dowry Prohibition Act, yet widely reported, and violence linked to dowry demands is a recognised harm. Many families and NGOs now run awareness campaigns, and the bride's mahr is set in the nikah contract."},{"country_code":"ID","place":"Indonesia","text":"Muslim Indonesian couples give a mahr, often a set of prayer items or a small sum, named in the marriage contract. Many ethnic groups add their own gifts: among the Batak, the groom's family brings the sinamot, a negotiated bride gift, and receives ulos cloth in return."},{"country_code":"PH","place":"Philippines","text":"Before the wedding the groom's family makes the pamanhikan visit to ask the bride's parents for her hand and settle plans. In the ceremony a groom hands his bride the arras, thirteen coins, as a pledge to provide for the household."},{"country_code":"CN","place":"China","text":"Families traditionally exchange betrothal gifts, caili, and the bride's side returns part as a dowry or gifts. The amounts have become a social pressure in some provinces, and local governments have urged moderation."},{"country_code":"KZ","place":"Kazakhstan","text":"The kalym, historically paid in livestock, is now formally outlawed, but gifts such as the tuyak (a ritual presentation of livestock and cloth) continue in softer forms. Many families describe it as a symbolic sharing rather than a payment."},{"country_code":"SA","place":"Saudi Arabia","text":"The groom owes the bride a mahr, specified in the marriage contract, and it is hers alone. Some families set it as a sum, others as jewellery or a deferred amount, and there are public campaigns for moderate sums so that young men can marry."},{"country_code":"IL","place":"Israel and Jewish communities","text":"The ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract, records the husband's obligations to his wife, including a sum payable if the marriage ends. It is signed by witnesses and read under the chuppah, and many couples keep it framed at home."},{"country_code":"EG","place":"Egypt","text":"The groom's side gives shabka, jewellery presented to the bride at the engagement, and the contract sets a mahr in two parts, one at the wedding and one deferred. Setting up the home is split, with the groom usually responsible for the flat and the bride's family for the furnishings."},{"country_code":"ZA","place":"South Africa","text":"Lobola is negotiated between the two families by their representatives, traditionally in cattle, now often in cash, and many couples say it is a way to honour their elders. Critics debate whether it commodifies women, while supporters see it as binding the families together."},{"country_code":"UG","place":"Uganda","text":"Among the Baganda and others, the introduction ceremony (kuhingira, or kwanjula) includes presenting gifts and bridewealth to the bride's family before the wedding. Debate continues, and a 2010 court ruling concerned whether refunding bride price on divorce was constitutional."},{"country_code":"GR","place":"Greece","text":"The dowry, the proika, was long the central economic act of a Greek marriage and was legally abolished in family-law reforms in 1983. Today the custom survives mostly as help given to a couple, such as a house."},{"country_code":"MX","place":"Mexico","text":"The lazo and the thirteen arras coins are given by the groom to the bride in a Catholic ceremony as a promise to support her. The padrinos often pay for part of the wedding and gifts such as the arras and the lazo."},{"country_code":"PG","place":"Papua New Guinea","text":"In many highlands communities, bride price is paid in pigs, shell valuables and money, and the exchange takes days to prepare. Churches and women's groups debate its inflation, and laws recognise it in custom while seeking to prevent abuse."},{"country_code":"PE","place":"Peru","text":"In Andean communities, couples may live together on a trial basis, called sirvinakuy, before the wedding, and gifts travel between the two families. Elders offer advice and the community acknowledges the marriage in stages."}],"by_country":[{"country":"Nigeria","code":"NG","traditions":[{"name":"Hausa traditional marriage","tagline":"The Islamic marriage rites of the Hausa people in Northern Nigeria and Niger.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/traditional-marriage-in-hausa-culture"},{"name":"Igbo traditional marriage","tagline":"The multi-stage Igbo marriage process that formalizes a union through family negotiations and the wine-carrying ceremony","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/traditional-marriage-in-igbo-culture"},{"name":"Lefe","tagline":"The presentation of gifts from the groom to the bride in Hausa weddings.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/lefe"},{"name":"Money marriage","tagline":"A practice in southern Nigeria where a girl is given in marriage to settle her family's debts.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/money-marriage"}]},{"country":"China","code":"CN","traditions":[{"name":"Bride buying","tagline":"The exchange of money or goods for a woman to become a wife.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/bride-buying"},{"name":"Chinese pre-wedding customs","tagline":"The traditional betrothal rituals of the Book of Rites that prepare a Chinese marriage.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/chinese-pre-wedding-customs"}]},{"country":"Ethiopia","code":"ET","traditions":[{"name":"Wedding customs in Ethiopia","tagline":"A collection of diverse marriage rites across Ethiopian tribes and the Orthodox Christian community.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/wedding-customs-in-ethiopia"}]},{"country":"Thailand","code":"TH","traditions":[{"name":"Bride price","tagline":"Wealth paid by the groom or his family to the bride or her kin to formalize a union.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/bride-price"}]},{"country":"India","code":"IN","traditions":[{"name":"Arabikalyanam","tagline":"A temporary marriage arrangement between Arabian men and women in Kerala that has been linked to exploitation.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/arabikalyanam"}]},{"country":"Azerbaijan","code":"AZ","traditions":[{"name":"Azerbaijani wedding traditions","tagline":"The multi-step family rituals of Azerbaijani weddings, from matchmaking to the henna night.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/azerbaijani-wedding-traditions"}]},{"country":"Kyrgyzstan","code":"KG","traditions":[{"name":"Bride kidnapping","tagline":"The abduction of a woman or girl by a man who wishes to marry her, ranging from consensual elopement to violent coercion","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/bride-kidnapping"}]},{"country":"Peru","code":"PE","traditions":[{"name":"Bride service","tagline":"Labor provided by the groom to the bride's family as part of the marriage arrangement.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/bride-service"}]},{"country":"Kenya","code":"KE","traditions":[{"name":"Koito","tagline":"A Kalenjin dowry negotiation ritual that marks the formal agreement between families.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/koito"}]},{"country":"South Africa","code":"ZA","traditions":[{"name":"Lobolo","tagline":"The livestock or cash payment from a groom's family to a bride's family that formalizes a customary marriage in Southern","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/lobolo"}]},{"country":"Canada","code":"CA","traditions":[{"name":"Marriage à la façon du pays","tagline":"The common-law unions between European fur traders and Indigenous women that shaped North American history.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/marriage-a-la-facon-du-pays"}]},{"country":"Timor-Leste","code":"TL","traditions":[{"name":"Timorese wedding traditions","tagline":"The gift exchange and family alliance rituals practiced on the island of Timor.","url":"https://everyshaadi.com/t/timorese-wedding-traditions"}]}],"attribution":{"based_on":"Wikipedia and Wikidata","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","photos":"Wikimedia Commons, credited on each page"},"url":"https://everyshaadi.com/concepts/bride-price","note":"EveryShaadi pages take their facts from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, rewritten in EveryShaadi's own words with AI assistance; they may contain mistakes. Wedding customs are described as the people who keep them would describe them; contested practices carry a care line with their legal status and the harm they have caused. Cite the url and keep the attribution.","published_by":"EveryShaadi, a ClearTrust publication"}