Sikhism: A Wedding

Sikhs take marriage very seriously, and weddings are important and joyful affairs always
between two Sikhs. It is traditional for the parents to arrange the marriage, and for the
bride and bridegroom to meet for the first time on the day of the wedding. This is not
always the case today, however. The wedding ceremony itself is known as the Anand Karaj
(Ceremony of Bliss). It usually takes place inside the temple, or gurdwara, although it may
occur in the brides family home or outside in the open air.
Before a Sikh wedding
Friends and family visit the prospective
bride in her home to look at her display
of wedding presents and embroidery that
she has produced
On the eve of the wedding, the bride and
her friends and family have a party in the
house

During a Sikh wedding

For the wedding ceremony, the
bridegroom puts on a dark red or pink
turban and a pink scarf, and a special
mask called a kalgri
The bride wears lots of gold jewelry and
dresses in beautiful orange, pink, or red
Punjabi clothes: a dupatta (scarf), shalwar
(trousers), and kameeze (tunic)
Sikhs do not have priests, so the families
of the bride and bridegroom agree on a
person to perform the marriage
ceremony. This can be any Sikh
At the beginning of the ceremony, the
bridegroom enters and bows to the
Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh scriptures),
before sitting on the floor in front of it
The brides father puts a garland of
flowers on the Guru Granth Sahib
The bride enters with female members
of her family and bows to the Guru
Granth Sahib before sitting on the floor
next to her future husband
The brides father puts a garland of
flowers around the brides neck
After prayers and readings from the
Guru Granth Sahib, the brides father
gives the end of the bridegrooms scarf
to his daughter

The bride and bridegroom make their

wedding vows to each other as they walk
clockwise around the Guru Granth Sahib,
joined together by the grooms pink scarf.
They do this four times as the
congregation speaks and sings the
wedding hymn, the lavan
At the end of the ceremony, an ardas (a
formal prayer) is said, and everybody
shares a special food called the karah
parshad

After a Sikh wedding

At the end of a Sikh wedding, the bride
is dressed by her mother and sisters as
they say farewell to her in a ceremony
called the Doli. The bridegroom takes his
bride to his family home in a brightly
decorated car
Bridegroom and bride in
their ceremonial clothes