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.
Christian and I on the roof's structure
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| The bride and groom posed for pictures at every stage of the marriage ceremony |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The groom with the Hindu symbol for prosperity on the white sheet |
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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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