Today consisted of two significant ceremonies… Grah Shanti and the Wedding.
The Grah Shanti began a little after 9am poolside at the resort, beautifully decorated with orange flower garlands. I did some research on this ceremony since whenever I asked about the meaning behind the previous ones, nobody could really tell me much (but I was asking English speakers so I’m sure if I could speak Gujrati I could have learned). Anyways… My limited understanding is that this ceremony is more about the bride’s parents showing that they have provided a good example of a happy marriage to Hima and actually remarried in front of us.
Hima then joined her parents for some part of the ceremony, and that was that.
Family pictures occurred immediately after along with lunch. No rest for the wicked, because immediately after lunch I had to head to the hair salon to get beautified for the evening event. Hair, nails, makeup and dressed…. I am ready for the wedding 🙂
Once we were all dressed up, we had so many guests stop to tell us how great we look or take our picture, some even asking us to take a picture with them. It’s so funny but as Hima’s brother said, we are kind of a novelty here. As much as we try to blend into the background in normal situations, it is simply not possible here in India.
The bride’s family is all at the wedding location, but the groom’s family (including the groom) must all walk there in a grand procession called a Baraat.. this is very traditional to this region in India and is basically the groom walking to the bride’s family home to take her back to their home. The groom must ride a female horse, and it must be white. All the close male friends walk with him wearing turbans representing honor. The bride’s family meets the groom’s family/friends at the door, and the bride soon follows.
They are then separated again and each make their own entrances into the ceremony area. It’s set up as a very royal event with the groom entering with men dressed like knights-ish holding sticks of fire, and the bride entering with the same men and female dancers dressed in white.
The actual ceremony followed immediately with just a few family members watching on the stage. It’s very different than a wedding in the US where everybody is paying attention the entire time. We were able to stand by the stage and watch everything. We were even allowed up a couple of times to stand and watch. It was really, really beautiful.
One fun thing we don’t want to forget… At every wedding, there is a family competition involving the bride and groom’s shoes. When they are getting married, they are barefoot and so each family tries to steal the opposite side’s shoes. The bride’s family must get the groom’s shoes and vice versa. It’s really about protecting the family honor. Well somehow we were thrown into this game randomly when Hima’s brother came over to sit by us and started talking to the group in front of us (who turned out to be Keval’s friends from the US). These friends then explained to us what this game even was. Turns out the guy in front of us is the one that had the shoes all along. Our friends from the UK all knew it, and so they had come to us a couple of times along with Hima’s brother to try to figure out how to get them back. For about an hour, everyone from the bride’s side was staring at us wanting us to get the shoes, but the guy in front of us wouldn’t move. It turned into a big ordeal with a bunch of the cousin’s sitting all around him… Kevin asking the guy in front of us to take our picture… And a fight for the shoes. The bride’s side ultimately won the shoes and the bargaining chip that followed. Hima’s brother negotiated for about a half hour and they ended up settling on a sum of rupees in return for the shoes (apparently the groom cannot leave the wedding ceremony without them). The groom’s family had Hima’s shoes as well, but after the long groom negotiation they just gave her the shoes back saying they are just happy she is now part of their family. It was a pretty fun thing to be a part of even if it meant that our new friends may not like us anymore.
Well that about sums up the day… We had a lot of pictures taken and took a lot ourselves as well.
Here’s the family that we stayed with in the village:
Here is the aftermath of my hairdo…two hair extensions and 52 hair pins later.
And of course… The beautiful bride and groom!
