1930s-1940s: Peye Bôné — the Payment of Happiness

1930s-1940s: (Peye Bôné — the Payment of Happiness — Weddings Being an Important Moment of Financial Adjustment Cultural Retention and Celebration and Points of Negotiation for Peasant Women, in Many Plasaj Weddings a Peye Bôné Being Given to the Bride’s Parents on Behalf of the Groom — in This Ritual Which Included Actual Money and on Occasion a Cow or Large Offering of Food the Payment Being Given to the Father but Immediately Given to the Mother Who Split It Between the Couple and Herself, the Mother and the Daughter’s Godmother Negotiating the Price If They Found It Too Low): Weddings were an important moment of financial adjustment, cultural retention, and celebration, and were points of negotiation for peasant women. In many plasaj weddings, a peye bôné (payment of happiness) was given to the bride’s parents on behalf of the groom. In this ritual, which included actual money and on occasion a cow or large offering of food, the payment was given to the father but immediately transferred to the mother, who split it between the couple and herself. The mother and the daughter’s godmother negotiated the price if they found it too low — the men performed the transaction, but the women governed it: the father received the payment as a formality, but the mother adjudicated its worth, the godmother serving as co-arbiter of the bride’s value.