Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part F (2025)

The paper examines the symbolism of bride wealth and gift-giving in the Darlong marriage system through a web of questions: How does the exchange of gifts reflect and recreate interpersonal relationships? How does this transaction reflect and recreate social understanding of the nature of gifted objects? The materials given as bride-wealth in the Darlong marriage system have changed over time in terms of form and meaning. The value and sentiment associated with traditionally prescribed objects that are gifted are no longer present in today's new articles. As a result, the exchange does not unite the giver and the receiver, but rather separates them from the object that was exchanged.