Pigs, yams, valuables, and women are items of exchange throughout New Guinea. Their widespread ceremonial exchange, one of the most striking characteristics of New Guinea life, does not arise out of economic necessity. Rather, ceremonial exchange is a total social phenomenon in that the ritual distribution of large quantities of food and valuables reflects the interplay between kinship and marriage structures, the nature of political leadership, and the religious and symbolic systems found in these cultures. Your Own Pigs You May Not Eat is an admonition to exchange as well as a title.