The next door neighbor is also getting married and we were invited (this is the third wedding now… the first one we were not able to attend). This neighbor is a relative of Hima’s (everyone is a cousin, so I will go with that). Since the weddings are very close together, all the women in each family walked around the village together to invite each woman to come over to sing the wedding songs. This ritual consists of drawing a swastik with red holi powder on the door steps and leaving rice.
Kevin’s Day:
We walked around the village and scouted out where the food was being prepared which was over by the house we are staying at. I tried some of the bread. Then we called a driver and headed to McDonald’s where I ordered a Paneer Wrap (thankfully not the chicken wrap because one of the guys ordered it and it looked disgusting). It was time to head back for the wedding ceremonies, so we came back — watched the ceremonies — went to eat dinner — ended up serving dinner — and then back to the house to hang out with the crew.
Jessica’s Day:
While I was out walking the village, Kevin ended up leaving with Hima’s brother and his group of friends, so when I returned, I hung out with Hima and helped her organize all of her stuff (boy does she have a lot of clothes for the next six days). The afternoon was the next door neighbors Haldi Ceremony and Ganesh Puja. The Haldi Ceremony consists of all the women relatives putting tumeric paste (bright yellow) on the knees, arms and face of the groom (or bride depending on which Haldi it was). The significance of this isn’t as clear as I want it to be because nobody really seems to know the specifics (at least the people that are helping us understand everything), but if I remember correctly from the research I did, tumeric is supposed to be cleansing but also makes the skin glow.
The Ganesh Puja is a religious ceremony allowing everything to pray to Lord Ganesh to make sure that everything goes well for the wedding days. Everyone then went to eat dinner together, and we all headed back to the house. The day became full circle, because in the evening, all the village women gathered over by the house to sing the wedding songs. Food was served, and we ended up meeting a couple of people that traveled here for the weddings as well (it was nice to sit and have a full conversation in English). We take that for granted back home, but not here. It’s all Gujrati and of course we can’t speak it, other than those few words.
P.S. While I was walking the village, I had a conversation about my hair. Someone asked if I spent all morning making it straight and shiny, and I was like ‘oh no, I walked out of the house today with my hair wet… this is just what it does’. Sometimes I wish I had hair skills, but I’m also really thankful that I don’t have to do anything to it and it still looks okay.
