Among all Indian weddings, the Punjabi marriage is considered to be the most larger than life. The main ceremonies and rituals commence a few days before the main wedding day. Let us have a look at the beautiful rituals in a Punjabi marriage.
Chuda
The ceremony takes place early morning on the wedding day and involves a puja, which is conducted by a priest. The maternal uncle of bride has a role to play in this. A set of ivory red bangles, blessed and touched by all those present is given to the bride by the maternal uncle. Beautiful flowers are sprinkled on her and sweets are distributed to among guests. Once the brides wear the chuda, all relatives, cousins and friends tie kaliras on the bangle of the bride’s wrists. This is also when the maternal uncle gifts the wedding lehenga to his niece.
Vatna
Vatna generally follows chuda ceremony. The bride is made to sit in a position facing lamps or diyas. They consider this to be auspicious for the lamps to be burning so that bride’s face glows forever. Friends and female apply vatna on the body of the bride. Turmeric plays the role of scrub making the body look beautiful.
Ghara ghardoli
After vatna ceremony, the bride accompanies her siblings to a nearby temple where she is bathed in holy water. The same ritual is also followed at the bridegroom’s house and the sister-in-law pours the water over the bridegroom. After this ceremony, the Punjabi bride and groom go for the main rituals for that night.
Sehra
A ritual, which has significance for the groom, the sehra involves short puja in which the father of the bridegroom ties the sehra, which is a pink colored turban with headgear, which has flowery strings that cover his face.
Ghodi chadna
This ceremony also has importance for the groom. He is accompanied by his sisters in feeding the horse on which the groom goes to the bride’s house. The sister- in-law applies surma on the eyes to keep away all evil from the charming groom.
Milni
The baraat is welcomed by the parents of the bride. Rose water is sprinkled on all the baraatis and milni begins. In this ceremony, the relatives of the bride are introduced to the relatives of the groom. The paternal uncle of the bride meets and hugs the paternal uncle of the groom, etc.
Varmala
Once the groom arrives at the venue of the wedding, he is taken to a stage where he sits and waits for the bride’s arrival. When the bride arrives, garlands are exchanged between the two. This is a ceremony in which a lot fun and teasing is involved. The groom is egged by his cousins and friends to not bow his head when his wife garlands him.
Phere
and last, the main ritual is the phere in which 7 rounds are taken around bonfire and many oaths are taken.
Have you attended a Punjabi wedding as yet?
