MIL kept our wedding gift money

[newmomaboutthreads]

For context we are both British born Indians. My husbands family are much more traditional, can't speak english for example however I have been brought up in much more western environment. So this maybe cultural that I don't understand.

My MIL kept all the money that was given to us on our wedding.
A lot was cash placed in my lap and some given in cards. She has kept all that cash and the cards from my husbands family.
She gave me the cards from my husbands friends only (my mum had the cards from my friends & family and gave them all to me when we got back from honeymoon). But I know my husbands family gave us a lot but nothing else was given to us.

We would be talking thousands. We don't need the money but I just find it really weird.

Is this something cultural that I don't get?

Adding the language barrier to the get n the right ide of your MIL ASAP' aspect, I really dont think you should have any direct dealings with her about this. Whether you need the money or not is irrelevant. The question is who has a right to in their culture. I find it odd that, after a whole year, your husband hasn't dealt with this before. Presumably you have Googled or asked on Quora whether the husband's family is supposed to take your gifts. If not, maybe an elder from your place of worship might know. I wonder if your hubby could talk to his Dad about it? Best of luck anyway !

Is the net zero gift actually the reason?
I think the dynamic is more that of a whole class birthday party where the done thing is a gift of £10. Someone doesn't want to be the person rocking up with a fiver or 50.
Traditionally the whole village or community would be invited so lots of invites

The 'keeping it' comes from a joint family - but in the nuclear family is just grabby.

My ILs had noted down who gave what but didn't keep it.

I'm well aware of the reasons some people think racism towards white people should be labelled prejudice not racism, I dont agree with it. Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity - redefining that is simply an attempt to make it more acceptable.