In contrast to this account, the bride and groom gave each other gifts, which symbolized the marital exchange of the young woman. First she offered her future spouse a rosary or medallion with an image of the young woman. First she offered here future spouse a rosary or medallion with an image of the Virgin Mary as a sign of her virginity. He countered by presenting the donas, a handcrafted chest containing the wedding trousseau. The prospective groom in New Mexico traveled to Chihuahua or Mexico City to purchase the items for the donas, which included bolts of material for the wedding dress - white satin and lace, and other items such as silks, brocades, linens, the bridal gown, clothing, jewelry, household goods, and occasionally money. "Not being able to present the bride with an appropriate trousseau was considered inappropriate and shameless."17 Men would postpone proposing for extended periods of time to save money for the donas and wedding.

The father of the bride customarily offered a dowry as a counter-gift after the exchange of the donas. "The dowry functioned as a premortem accession to inheritance, which guaranteed a woman enough wealth to attract a husband of similar or higher social standing. It helped finance the initial costs of creating a household and also provided some economic security in the event of an early widowhood. Dowry was legally inalienable female property, which at her death devolved intact to her children, and lacking these, reverted to ther natal family. But since the dowry (usually livestock) was usually managed by a woman's husband, it could be used exclusively to futher his economic interests."18

Men of wealth reciprocated by presenting the bride with arras or arrastomines, moveable goods contributed by the groom's family to the union. "By law, the value of the arras was limited to ten percent of the man's wealth at the time of his betrothal. This contribution automatically became the property of the bride and passed on to her heirs at death. By tradition, the rituals of the prendorio - the exchange of prendas, donas, and arras - symbolized the contract and economic alliance that had been forged between two families."19

Religion and tradition required that the parents of the bride and groom (consuegros) find a couple to sponsor their children for their wedding. "A request to serve as padrino (best man) and madrina (matron of honor) was an honor, and seldom refused. It carried responsibility for supervising the preparation of the couple for the wedding and providing guidance and counseling if the couple experienced difficulties in marriage."20

Intimate and trustful relationships of compadrazgo emerged from this new union. The bride and groom's parents, padrinos de bautizo or godparents of baptism, and padrinos de boda or wedding, linked to form a triadic relationship. Althought the parents of the groom had more influence in the choice of padrinos, once the relationship had been established the members of the triad behaved toward one another in exactly the same way and with the same degree of social, economic, and ceremonial intensity. The consuegros never addressed each other as such, but as compadres, that is, they symbolically relinquished their status as parents-in-law in the face of an overriding relationship.21 Thus, the system of compadrazgo built stronger familial and economic ties between families. These "close and intimate relationships are characteristic of the peasant peoples of Catholic South Europe."22 The strong system of compadrazgo today still prevails in Mexico and Latin America as a social norm.

Indian customs of including sponsors at initiation ceremonies most probably contributed to the characteristically Catholic godparent-compadre institution. All noble weddings in New Spain most probably "involved ritual sponsorship, and sometimes two or three padrinos became the sponsors. Also, the most common practice was to appoint only padrinos, rather than both padrino and madrina."23