Diamond In The Rough: Indian Weddings

Hiya Lovelies,

So as some of you may or may not know, I am a Hindu Indian, and being a Indian teenage girl has certain obligations. Such as attending all the wedding events your family has. And by family I do not mean immediate family, I mean, family that you may not have seen for 7years, but now one of their daughters/sons is getting married, who you might have not even met, but you must attend anyway. I decided to write about this now because I went to a wedding and a reception this weekend, and funnily enough I actually enjoyed myself.

I'm not complaining to be honest, because I do actually have fun at them sometimes. They're actually quite beautiful and magical. So here are some of the things Indian weddings entail.

Jayamaala

The bride's parents welcome the bridegroom and his family at the door of the house. A red powder mark is applied to their forehead. Members from both families are formally introduced, marking the start of relationship between two families. The bride and the bridegroom then exchange flower garlands.

Madhu-Parka

The bridegroom is brought to a specially decorated altar called 'mandap' and offered a seat and a welcoming drink - a mixture of milk, ghee, yogurt, honey and sugar.

Gau Daan and Kanya Pratigrahan

The symbolic exchange of gifts, particularly clothes and ornaments takes place. The groom's mother gives a necklace (mangala sootra) to the bride. Mangla sootra is the emblem of marital status for a Hindu woman. The bride's father declares that their daughter has accepted the bridegroom and requests them to accept her.

Vivaha-homa

A sacred fire is lit and the Priest recites the sacred mantras in Sanskrit. Oblations are offered to the fire whilst saying the prayers.

Paanigrahan

This is the ceremony of vows. The husband, holding his wife's hand, says "I hold your hand in the spirit of Dharma, we are both husband and wife".

Shilarohan and Laaja Homa

Shilarohan is climbing over a stone by the bride which symbolises her strength to overcome difficulties. Both gently walk around the sacred fire four times. The bride leads three times and the fourth time the groom leads. The couple join their hands into which the bride's brothers pour some barley, which is offered to the fire. The husband marks the parting in his wife's hair with red powder for the first time. This is a distinctive mark of a married Hindu woman. Often why you see a lot of Indian women with 'bindi spots'

Sapta-Padi

The couple walk seven steps reciting a prayer at each step. These are the seven vows which are exchanged. The first for food, the second for strength, the third for prosperity, the fourth for wisdom, the fifth for progeny, the sixth for health and the seventh for friendship.A symbolic matrimonial knot is tied after this ceremony.

To some of you that may have been a load of un-interesting rubbish that you'll never need to know, but I hope some of you found it interesting. To be honest I could talk a whole load more about the actual cultrue of it all, like how one must greet an aunty (masi) at a wedding, and what one must wear, and behave like, because that's acutally stuff you have to learn before attending one of these, or you could end up looking like a right twat.

I will finish off with some pictures of the wedding I went to this weekend. Which was actually one of the shorter ones, it was a lovely ceremony at the Hare Krishna temple in Watford, if any of you want to know about how the Hare Krishna's are different to hindu's, I'll put the link to their website at the bottom of the post.