INDIAN Work of:

Ayrapetyan
WEDDING Asmik

TRADITIONS Tsaran Irina

Ivanova Tatiana
▪ A wedding is the biggest
celebration in Indian life.
Previously, it was celebrated
for a week or more, now
more and more often they
manage with several days or
even one.
▪ In India, marriage is completely dependent on the decision of the groom's parents.
They look for a bride for their son and come to an agreement with her parents about a
future marriage. Little depends on the girl: in the end, her parents can simply order
her to marry even an unfamiliar young man, and she must obey.
▪ After an agreement between the
parents, two meetings of the young
are organized, called “ashir-wad” -
“blessing”, first in the bride’s house,
and then in the groom’s house. At the
same time, young people receive gifts
from parents and relatives, and also
give gifts to each other.
▪ The bride is dressed in a bright red sari,
and she always has bright red bracelets
on her hands, which means that the girl is
getting married. She will wear these
bracelets for at least another month after
the wedding. The groom has gold
embroidery on his clothes, he is girded
with a fiery belt, and a bright headdress
is on his
head.Great importance is attached to the
decoration of the bride and groom. Tradit
ionally, the bride lines her eyes with black
paint, puts successful patterns and lines (
mehendi) on her hands and puts on 16 je
welry (shringar(sad) earrings in the ears
and nose, bracelets on the hands and feet,
tika (on the forehead), rings on the toes a
nd others. She also decorates her hair wit
h flowers
▪ The key to the ceremony is the “kanya-
dana” ritual, when the bride’s father
joins the hands of the bride and the
groom: he takes the bride’s right hand
and puts it on the groom’s right hand,
after which he puts his hand on top,
thereby declaring that he gives her as
a wife, meanwhile, a member of the
groom's family places his hand
underneath as a token of welcome to
the bride, inviting her to enter her
new family.
 • God in the form of fire is invited to witness the marriage
, therefore, as a sign of respect, the couple walk around
the fire seven times. At this time, family members sprink
le them with rice and flower petals, after which they are
declared husband and wife. Then the couple give gifts t
o all the guests and invite them to a feast.

▪ After that, the newlyweds pronounce their vows and can

exchange wedding rings. The groom promises the bride
that he will protect her, share religious and family
duties with her, let her know about family expenses, not
shame her in public, etc. The husband also promises to
love only her, but to everyone else women to treat as
their own mother, and always do everything to keep her
satisfied.