Hindu_Wedding

Nimisha Patel EALC Bill Lindsey 13 April 2012 Hindu Wedding The concept and definition of a marriage may change with time, but its value remains unchanged. A wedding is a ceremony to celebrate the wedlock of a bride and groom. For most of the people wedding is the most important day of their life, the day they unite with their soul mate and vow to be with them for the rest of their lives. The celebration of a wedding may vary between different countries, religions, culture and social classes, but the joy and festivity associated with the ceremony invariably remain in the same. Marriage is a great social event in our society. It is a means of establishing new bonds between two individuals and families. A Hindu Wedding is not simply an exchange of vows and rings. It includes a number of religious rites before and during the nuptials, which are performed in the presence of family deities. These represent the importance of the bond between a husband and wife. A Hindu marriage or Vivaha is incomplete without the blessings of a spiritual or divine element. Marriage in Hinduism is a sacred relationship. It is both an obligatory duty (dharma) and a samskara (sacrament). For a Hindu women marriage marks the end of her life as a maiden. She has to leave her parent's home to begin a new life in her husband's house. After marriage her relationship with her parents remain formal and minimal. Marriage therefore becomes a matter of anxiety and stress for many women, till they become familiar with their new surroundings and the new people in their lives. The early stages of marriage is a make or break situation in case of many. It is also the period during which the bride either becomes popular in her new home or unpopular, depending upon her behavior and her relationships with each member of her husband's family The preparation for a marriage begins soon after the negotiations for an alliance between the two families are finalized. The house is cleaned and the provisions for the marriage are stocked. Orders are placed for ornaments and the wedding clothes. Arrangements are made for sumptuous dinner and the lodging of the groom’s party. Fancy invitation cards are printed and posted to friends and relatives much in advance of the actual occasion. Two or three days before the ceremony, ladies’ of the house gather to sing and dance in a gathering, called the ladies sangeet. On the day of the wedding, a big tent is pitched outside the house of the bride. Those who can afford, hire a banquet hall or a farm house. It is decorated with colored lights, flowers and other decorative items. Friends and relatives gather around the bride and help her in dressing up in her wedding dress and jewelery. Her hands and feet are decorated with henna. All prayers in Hindu ceremonies start by invoking the blessings of Lord Ganesha (Lord Ganesha unlike all the other Hindu deities has an elephant head as a result of the unfortunate conditions explaining Lord Ganesh’s elephant head – his own father axed off his son’s head and then replaced it with that of the first animal he saw – the Hindu devout shows his lack of preference between the Lords by making his preliminary prayers to Lords, Ganesha). Seven married ladies (portraying 7 forms of God for each day of the week) use red power to make a Ganesh sign (clockwise swastika) on a pot of misri (crystalline sugar) asking him to bless the couple and make the ceremony run well. The ladies also sew designs on a white piece of cloth to ward of any Nazar (evil eyes cast) that may come upon the happy occasion. This cloth is worn by the couple on the wedding day. (Note some couples leave the preparation of the white cloth until the Ghari puja.) A puja is done by the couple and their parents welcoming God in different forms and asking for his blessings. They pray to Lord Ganesha, Varun Devta, Laxmi & Narayan, the Gods on governing the 9 planets, and Om. Garlands are exchanged by the couple in order to welcome each other into their lives. This part of the ceremony is known as the Varmala. As gold lasts for ever, rings made of gold are exchanged by the couple in order to represent a long married life. It is believed that the fourth finger of the hand has a vein leading directly to the heart. Hence the groom wears the ring on the fourth finger of his right hand and the bride wears hers on the fourth finger of her left hand in order to form a complete heart. The groom’s family places a basket of fruits, clothes, cosmetics or ornaments on the girl’s lap (in her jholi) to represent their acceptance into her family and bestowing her with happiness and prosperity. The groom’s family gives a verbal promise of marriage and feeds misri (crystalline sugar) to the girls family to confirm the engagement. The eating of sweet is considered auspicious by the Hindus and thus is eaten on all happy occasions. hindu wedding