Our summer series on marriage continues with a new episode focusing on a key institution in several traditional societies : the bride’s dowry!

In the legal sense, the term dowry refers to the assets brought in by a spouse (most often the woman) to contribute to cost of the wedding. While the dowry mainly bears a material and financial aspect, yet it can by crucial within the future couple’s relationship.

In effect all over Europe until not so long ago, the dowry system now belongs to the memories of grandmothers for most of the Western societies. And so the customs mentioned here by two member of the Akele community may very well have some of you jump…

Indeed what we find out here is that the dowry was sometimes payed way in advance, before the future spouse was even born. Plus, and above all, what we understand once more is how little consideration there was for what the women thought, whether before the marriage or after a possible separation.

Linguist: Jean-Marie Hombert
Camera and sound: Luc-Henri Fage
Translation: Hugues Awanhet
Editing: Caroline Laurent