East Indian Wedding Ceremony
Hindu wedding ceremonies are lavish celebrations, combining feasts with symbolic rituals and rites. Most marriages in India are arranged through the families or marriage brokers, with Indian families being most concerned about passing their values and traditions along to future generations. The festivities can often last for a week, and require at least a month of intensive preparation.
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Al Buddo Bhaat: Last Meal of the Bride in Her Parents' Home
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The night before the wedding, the bride and her family celebrate her last meal as a single woman in her parents' home. The bride's mother prepares a feast of her daughter's favorite delicacies, which is shared with her entire extended family.
Gai Halood/Haldi Uptan: Anointing of the Bride and Groom
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At dawn on the day of the wedding, the groom's relatives anoint him with a special paste of scented oils mixed with turmeric. This is a lighthearted occasion featuring lots of teasing. This paste (called Haldi paste) is then sent to the bride's house for her anointing ceremony. Before dawn she eats some natural yogurt, and she will fast until after the ceremony. When the groom's Haldi paste reaches the bride's house a large conch shell is blown to announce its arrival. He sends other gifts (such as jewelry and fish) as well.
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Shaka Paula: Adorning of the Bride
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A priest arrives at the bride's house and chants verses of Sanskrit while seven married women adorn the bride with bracelets made of coral and seashells and one bracelet made of intertwined iron and silver from the groom, symbolizing a strong and long-lasting marriage.
Boijotri: The Fetching of the Groom
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The bride's mother's brother goes to the groom's house to lead him, his family and friends to the wedding site. The groom is dressed in a long silk coat and possibly the traditional dhoti kurta - a long strip of cloth wrapped around the legs and knotted at the waist. The conch is blown again and the procession is on its way.
Potto Bastra: Welcoming the Groom
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When the groom's party arrives at the wedding site, honored members of the bride's party welcome him with the offering of a straw bowl filled with a lamp, honey, yogurt and betel nuts. They also give him a shawl and a dhoti (long silk robe) to wear during the ceremony.
The Ceremony
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The bride approaches the groom with her eyes lowered and walks around him seven times to welcome him. Her face is covered with a veil (made traditionally of betel leaves); he parts the leaves so that they may take their ceremonial "first look" at one another. They exchange flower garlands and he leads her to the marriage platform, where her parents place her hands in his to symbolize that they are "handing over" their daughter. Their hands are tied together and they take seven steps together around the holy fire burning on the platform, taking a vow with every step. She becomes a member of his family with the final step. He then brushes red vermilion powder (finely ground mercuric sulfide) onto the part of her hair, which establishes her status as a married woman.
The Send-Off
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After the wedding feast the groom's friends and family leave but he remains behind to be entertained (and teased) by the bride's young relatives. Eventually his father comes to escort the couple to their new home. Once there, the bride steps onto a plate containing water mixed with vermilion and walks into the house alone, leaving her footprints on the floor. She is formally accepted by her husband's relatives on the following day at a feast she has prepared for them. On the third day her female friends and relatives decorate her, as well as the couple's bed, with flowers, and the newly married couple is permitted to consummate their marriage.
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