The necessary delay between gift giving and gift reciprocating emphasizes the meaning of the gift as being about the relationship between the parties, which relationship is exercised in the trust that is being built through the device of the delay.
The closer in time the reciprocation comes to the initial gift, the more closely the gift exchange comes to resemble a market transaction. In the limiting case, no time elapses between gift and return gift and we have a pure market transaction that embodies a price in the act of simultaneous exchange.
The delay between gift giving and reciprocating inserts a rhythm into the body politic which would vanish were all interactions market transactions.
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