SOCIETY 145 
formal function, sometimes two, which precede the 
wedding itself and may be construed as official be- 
trothals. Should either party retract after these pre- 
liminaries, the other properly regards itself as insulted 
and lodges a claim for damages. The marriage act has 
a strong religious coloring. Sacrifices are offered and 
prayers or formulas recited to ensure the health, well 
being, and harmony of the couple and their offspring. 
Among the surviving pagans, those of Luzon, for 
instance the Ifugao, conduct engagements and mar- 
riages with somewhat more elaborate formality, and 
pay larger values for their brides, than the Bagobo and 
other inhabitants of Mindanao; but the difference is 
only one of degree. The principles on which marriage 
rests, and the nature of weddings, are common to both 
groups of tribes; and everything goes to show that the 
nationalities now Christian or Mohammedan formerly 
followed customs of the same type. 
That the married woman’s position is one of full 
equality is clear from the fact that she enjoys thorough 
economic independence. She inherits property from 
her parents to the same degree as her brothers or un- 
married sisters, and passes it on to her children without 
any claim upon it by her husband. He enjoys the use 
of her property, but only as trustee for the children, 
and without the right of selling it. Of course his own 
status corresponds. All possessions acquired by either 
husband or wife during marriage, other than through 
inheritance, are community property, upon which only 
the children of the couple, and not the respective kins- 
men of each of them, have any claim. In case of divorce, 
the community property is settled upon the children; 
if there are none, it is equally divided. It is difficult to 
imagine an attitude of more complete non-discrimina- 
tion between the sexes. 

