Last week I got an email from my foreigner friends asking me about "Dowry" as he has an idea to get married with his Thai girlfriend and this is not my first time that foreigners friends question me about Thai's wedding culture especially " Dowry".
" Why do Thai parents needs Dowry?".
" Don't you think it's like selling daughter?".
" Why man have to pay, in my country girls have to pay?".
" How much we should pay for the dowry?".
" It's like a legally buy a wife?".
" Do I need to pay tax on "Dowry"?.
" Can you give me a sample basic amount of dowry?".
Wait a minute! Wait a minute! My dear friends. Thais parents didn't ask for dowry as a commercial! There is no surplus or deficit, no tax, no VAT 7%! Your girlfriend is not product so dowry is not a price tag on your girlfriend's head! First of all, you need to understand Thai culture ok? If you love her but you don't try to understand the culture and you are not happy with Thai wedding culture, (*whisper*) I"m afraid that you might have to find a new girlfriend. Thai culture is very unique and it's a culture of grateful.
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Dowry or Thais known as " Sinsod" is supposed to be a compensation to a family of the bride for the loss of a dearest daughter who always take a good care of her parents. And how much it should be? I would say, " it depends" then the following question will be " depends on what?" It depends on so many factors. It depends on your financial status and her family social status for example; she is a famous person and her family has a high social status. If you have 100 and you will give 1? Or 10? Or 20? You have to think! And if you have 1,000, you still give 1? Of course, the more dowry you put, the more your bride happy. Because she will feel like you honor her and her family. .
However, it depends on both parties, as it's a mutual agreement. A dowry can start with any numbers basically running from 50,000 Baht up to unlimited.
