Flamboyant Punjabi Weddings

By Author: Ankush Singhal
Total Articles: 173
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In India weddings are a tradition which is celebrated with zeal by every individual. The rituals are conducted with maturity and seriousness and are equally enjoyed by the young and old alike.

But the most flamboyant of all are Punjabi weddings which are loud and display their culture in the most elaborate manner. The weddings are usually arranged by the elders of the family. The community is vast and includes various castes and marriages take place between those castes. Punjabi’s start their celebration with a small and simple ceremony known as roka where the groom’s parents officially accept the girl as their daughter-in-law and the girl’s parent accept the boy as their son-in-law. The girl and the boy receive envelopes filled with money from their relatives and the girl and the boy are officially engaged to start their courtship period.

After a period of time the families meet to decide on a wedding date and other ceremonies. The sagan ceremony is followed by the roka ceremony which is celebrated from the groom’s side in their ...
... house or outside of it. The pundit performs a “havan” and thereafter the bride and the groom sit together and put rings into each other’s finger. The boy put the ring first followed by the girl doing the same and the relatives shower flowers and give them cash as their blessings.

Before the wedding few small rituals are celebrated in both the houses. In the Punjabi bride’s house, mehndi is celebrated where the women sing teasing songs filled with humor for the bride and apply henna on their palm. The celebration involves lot of dancing and music with food served at the altar. On the wedding day chuda ceremony is performed early in the morning where the mamma (bride’s uncle) brings red and white bangles made of ivory and tie it with mouli( red colour thread) and the bride is made to wear it for certain period of time after marriage some girls tie kaleere on their bangles and shake them above the head of unmarried girls and if few kaleere drops above the head of a girl she is considered next to get married. The girl is applied a paste of turmeric powder and mustard oil on her body by the female members in the family and then sent to take the holy bath after which she wears her bridal dress which is either suit or lehenga.

The Punjabi groom on the other hand is busy performing important rituals after the sangeet ceremony is celebrated with his family and is applied the paste of turmeric powder and mustard oil on the wedding day. The grooms then takes bath and make a visit to a temple. He wears his wedding attire and the father of the groom ties turban on his head known as “sehra” and leaves for the wedding venue on a horse known as baraat.

The wedding begins with the entry of the groom where he performs a puja with the pundit. The bride arrives after the puja and varmala ceremony is celebrated. The two then sit on a “vedi” and kanyadaan ceremony starts and the youngsters from bride side play a prank on the groom by hiding his shoes and return it on exchange of some gift. After the Kanyadaan ceremony, the couple takes seven phera’s which is taking seven rounds around the fire.

Post marriage celebrations include playing of a game called “kangna” at the groom’s house after the couple is officially married and enters together in his house. in this game the newly married couple sit facing each other and a big thaal is kept on the floor between them. The thaal is a big plate filled with milk and water and a female relative puts a ring into that thaal, the couple is then told to find that ring and it is assumed that whoever finds it first dominates the other couple for rest of their life. The next day the bride makes a sweet dish for the family members in the kitchen and is given a gift by her mother-in-law.

A Punjabi wedding celebration ends with suhaagraat where the couple sleeps together for the first time. Thus, few days fun is thoroughly enjoyed by everybody involved in marriages.

Gurleen writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing matrimonial website providing online Indian matrimonial classified service. Jeevansathi.com enables users to create and search matches for their profiles like Hindu matrimony, Arora matrimony wherein users can avail free registration and make initial contact with each other through services available on Jeevansathi.com via Chat, SMS, and e-mail.