| caption: |
Chapter Three. Phases of Life |
| caption: |
courtship presents - bamboo combs and cloths |
| text: |
As soon as a boy had attained a girl's favors, he hastened to present his gifts. Such gifts were not a matter of individual imagination and generosity, but were strictly regulated by etiquette. According to custom, a boy had to give a girl five small bamboo combs, and in return he received from her a small blue cloth such as men wear apronlike tucked into their belts. Other gifts would follow these first exchanges. Of little intrinsic value but great symbolic significance, they marked the beginning of a relationship which involve the reciprocal rendering of services. |
