Some Important Pre-Wedding Rituals in Bengali Wedding

Ashirwad:

Generally, there is no concept of engagement in a Hindu wedding. People often associate engagement as fixing of a wedding. In Bengal matrimony, Ashirwad is the ceremony, which is similar to the engagement ceremony and is organized two-three day prior to the wedding day. Ashirwad is a confirmation of the marriage alliance. During the Ashirwad ceremony, the groom’s family visits the bride’s home, where they shower the bride with lots of blessings and gifts, which include saris for the bride, jewellery like gold ring, chain, etc., sweets, betel nuts, etc.

The Ashirwad ceremony is conducted in the presence of a priest who worships the idol of Bhagwan Narayan. Similarly, the bride’s family visits the groom’s home and gifts him gold ring, gold buttons, sweets, watch, etc.

Gaye halud:

 

Also known as haldi or turmeric ceremony in Bengal Matrimony where turmeric paste is massage all over the body of the bride and groom at their respective homes. Turmeric is an antiseptic, and is believed to bring a glow on the face of the person, who is about to be wedded.

Dodhi Mangal:

 

Dodhi Mangal is celebrated in the wee hours of the wedding day at both bride’s and groom’s houses. I missed the previous rituals in my friend’s wedding, so I decided to follow all the customs of the wedding. It was a new experience for me, when ten married women of the family accompany the bride and groom to a nearby pond, and are made to bath in the sacred water. I did not know the motive of this ritual, as every ritual has some story related to it. My friend’s mother told me that this is done to invite Goddess Ganga to the wedding. After the bride and groom take bath, they bring back a pitcher of water with them, and take bath again. The bride and groom are given food, which mainly consists of fried fish, rice, curd and chiruya.

After the completion of the pre-wedding rituals of Bengal matrimony, the Bengali Marriage was conducted in the evening.

Author: Rashmi Karan

Pre-Wedding Rituals in Punjabi Matrimony

Delhi is the home of a number of Punjabi families, and other residents have adopted their culture. The impact of rituals and customs of a Punjabi matrimony can clearly be noticed in weddings held in and around Delhi. A typical Punjabi wedding is full of pomp and show, and it is very entertaining to be a part of a Punjabi wedding.

The fun filled rituals, celebrations and parties after parties are the wedding style of a Punjabi matrimony. Punjabis are known for their love towards fun and dance.

ROKA

Roka is a kind of pre-engagement ceremony, where just families of the prospective bride and groom gather and fix the wedding. Roka is the acceptance of wedding from both sides of the families, and generally, wedding date is announced.

SHAGAN

This is engagement function where the family of the bride visits the groom’s family with gifts and sweets.

CHUNNI

This time the bride’s family visits the groom’s home, where the bride is presented with red sari and chunni, along with jewellery. It’s not compulsory, but the bride and groom may exchange rings, and main functions start.

SANGEET

In Punjabi matrimonial both families organize grand sangeet celebrations at their respective homes. The family and friends of both bride and groom dance whole night on the beats of Punjabi and Bollywood numbers. There is also fashion to call DJ, and arrange bar for the guests, where people flock around!

MEHENDI

Bride’s family organizes mehendi ceremony, generally a day before the wedding. The hands and feel of bride are decorated with beautiful mehendi patterns. There is custom that the bride does not step out of her parent’s home after mehendi, until the wedding day. It is believed that darker the colour of mehendi, stronger will be the relationship. Women from family and young girls also apply mehendi and enjoy the ceremony.

Author: Rashmi Karan

Attending an Ahom Marriage

I had a chance to attend the wedding ceremony of one of my Assamese friends, Madhurjya Phukan. He belongs to the Ahom community whose ancestors ruled Assam for six centuries.

The Ahoms are strict followers of their ancestors, as they are believed to keep an eye on their descendents. Worshipping their ancestors in the weddings is an important part of Assamese Matrimony. They believe that the ancestors keep the household free from any kind of evil eyes or bad omen.

The rituals and customs followed in Madhurjya’s wedding were common to all Assamese communities, which involved the Joron, Daiyan and Gathiyan ceremony. His was a love marriage with an Assamese girl only, who belonged to other community. They faced a lot many problems while convincing their parents for the alliance.

However, all the traditions were followed in their wedding, as they would do in an arranged Assamese matrimony.

At the time of wedding, the groom was made to sit in a courtyard; the bride came in and walked seven times round the groom. The bride sat by groom’s side and to my surprise, a cloth piece was tied round her neck and the other end of the cloth was fastened to the groom's waist. There were a number of rituals that were so interesting that I forgot that I was attending a wedding. Some of the rituals in the Assamese matrimony were quite adventurous for me.

After the rituals concluded, the bride and groom were given gives words of advice by the priest, from the holy books of Ahoms. They were reminded of their rights and duties of married life. As I stated earlier, Ahoms strongly believe in worshipping their ancestors, the history of seven generation of the boy’s family was recounted. Overall, attending an Ahom wedding was a different experience for me!

Author: Rashmi Karan

Types of Bridal Bouquets

Bridal Bouquets

Flowers are the main element of decoration and a wedding differentiators in Christian matrimonial. They provide a cozy atmosphere and different and allow you to customize all the spaces like the couple. It is wise decision to seek a good florist 1-2 months prior to the wedding.

The bridal bouquet is one of the most important accessories for a bride, if not the most important, and increasingly we have more options to customize and make it more special. Today I want to give some very interesting ideas I have found for the bridal bouquet for the Christian matrimonial, especially those that complement a simple wedding dress. Those delicate branches shall cause sensation, making your wedding spectacular.

Original Bouquets:

The first step in choosing the bridal bouquet in Christian matrimonial is to consider the wedding dress. The more prepared you are, the easier will be the bouquet. The height of the bride is also a factor to consider, if you are tall then you can go ahead with a cascading bouquet, and if, on the contrary, you are petite, try a stunning bouquet. Once you have chosen the type of the floral branch, ask your florist that what kind of accessories can be added to create a truly stunning bouquet.

Innovative Bouquets:

If you want to take a bold and sophisticated flavor, add peacock feathers to your bouquet. The contrast with the flowers is perfect which a very appropriate choice is also for this time of year. The combination of purple, red, and deep blue looks great. For a more traditional wedding, and an elaborate costume, I recommend a simple bouquet, but with a very cool touch. In addition, for the most romantic touch, try the spherical bunches hanging from a belt, cord or chain, which can be carried by the hand, like a bag of flowers.

Author: Rashmi Karan

Interesting Pre-Wedding Rituals in Gujarat Matrimony

People in Gujarati community are vibrant and fun loving, who believe in celebrating their festivals with all the pomp and show. They believe in the biggest celebrations when it comes to wedding. A Gujarati wedding includes colorful clothing, big celebrations, mesmerizing and interesting dance (Garba), lip-smacking cuisines and grand décor. The celebrations involved with the Gujarat matrimony are one of the most interesting wedding celebrations in India. Alike other communities in India, ceremonies in a Gujarati marriage are based on the ritualistic concepts, which include offering prayers to god and performing various interesting traditional rituals.

Weddings in India are divided into three parts, which are pre-wedding rituals, wedding rituals and post-wedding rituals. 

Here I will discuss about the pre-wedding rituals of Gujarat matrimony:

With sagai or engagement, the wedding rituals start. Sagai is the formal announcement of the wedding in Gujaratis. In contrary to other stats that the bride does not go to groom’s house, Gujaratis have this tradition that bride visits her would be husband’s house. In the presence of family members and friends, the sagai ceremony is solemnized.

Some of the other pre-wedding rituals are Pithi, Mehendi and Mandap Muhurat. The bride and groom also give prayers to god and a Grihshanti Pooja is done to ensure the peace and prosperity of home. The puja is conducted by a Pandit after finalizing the date and time after matching the horoscopes of the bride and groom. The family members and friends of the bride and groom are present at the time of puja who give their best wishes and blessing to the couple to be. Golden moments are generated with the essence of Garba dance, where both the families and friends unite and dance over the tunes of exciting Garba beats.

The wedding rituals in the Gujarati matrimonial are very interesting and the dressing of the bride and groom are quite bright and colourful.

Author: Rashmi Karan