BETROTHAL

promise or engagement between a man and a woman that they will be married. In societies in which premarital sexual relations are condoned or in which consensual union is common, betrothal may be unimportant. In other societies, however, betrothal is actually part of the marriage process, and a change of intention by one of the partners after he or she is betrothed is a serious matter, subject in some instances to a fine or other penalty. Marriage has historically been so frequently a matter of alliance between kinship groups that mate selection has been more often than not removed from the hands of the participants and negotiated by important or assigned representatives of each kinship group. In many, but by no means all, such cases, betrothal has been marked by various forms and degrees of mutual visits and gift exchange between the two families. Sometimes, especially when two potentially hostile groups are concerned, child betrothal may be adopted to ensure continuing social, economic, or political harmony.