Wedding Take Two



The second wedding we went to was the niece of our other translator Rajah Lakhmi. This was a Brahman wedding, which is considered to be the highest caste in India. This was also an arranged marriage, but because the bride was still in school they had a year long engagement so they had time to get to know each other. 



Rajah Lakshmi told us to come at 2 pm, so we did. However, it turned out the rest of the guests arrived at 7:30 so we had some time to kill.




Christian and I on the roof's structure



The bride and groom posed for pictures at every stage of the marriage ceremony

Mother of the bride, sister of the bride, bride, bride's grandmother (l to r)
The girls all joined the bride as she was getting ready; she will wear seven sarees throughout the night.

The wedding party

The bride carries a special coconut throughout the wedding ceremonies which was blessed and offered to a god


The bride sat in the flower-box for four hours; her father and brother carried her out to the stage for one of the marriage ceremonies. At this point a Brahman priest was blessing her prior to the ceremony.

At this portion of the Brahman marriage ceremony the bride and groom sit on opposite sides of a white sheet; they cannot see each other and perform rituals including the bride washing the grooms hands under the sheet.


The groom with the Hindu symbol for prosperity on the white sheet




Here they are placing patties of jaggary, a mix of other spices, and tiger rice on each other's heads as the Brahman priest chanted

Now they are 90% married! At this point it was 2 in the morning, so the six of us headed home rather than stay for the final ceremony at 4 am

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