Pre-Wedding Ceremonies
Indian weddings were once week-long celebrations that ended only when the bride departed with the groom’s family in the tearful farewell called the bidaai. Today many of the old rituals are shorter, but the pre-wedding ceremonies remain spellbinding, and three of them are loved in Indian and Pakistani families everywhere.
Sangeet: A Night of Music
The sangeet, meaning “music,” heralds the start of the wedding festivities. Family members gather to sing and dance, sometimes to the enthusiastic playing of amateur musicians among the relatives. It often turns into a friendly competition between the bride’s and groom’s sides, with the losing team paying a playful forfeit. Today many families rehearse choreographed dances for weeks in advance.
Pre-Wedding Highlights
- Sangeet: a night of singing, dancing and friendly family rivalry
- Haldi: turmeric paste applied by loved ones for a radiant glow
- Mehndi: intricate henna designs on the bride’s hands and feet
- Hidden name: the groom’s name tucked into the bride’s mehndi for him to find
- Baraat: the groom’s joyful procession to the wedding venue
Haldi: The Golden Glow
In the haldi ceremony, family members and friends lovingly smear the bride and groom with a paste of turmeric, often mixed with sandalwood and rosewater, before they bathe. Turmeric is prized for its cleansing qualities and leaves the skin glowing, and the ceremony is a blessing of purity and good fortune. What better way to begin a romantic journey than with confident, radiant skin and a lot of laughter?
Mehndi: Art in Henna
Mehndi, or henna paste, is drawn in intricate floral and paisley patterns over the bride’s hands and feet, with the palms receiving the most elaborate designs; grooms sometimes wear a little mehndi too. A playful tradition hides the groom’s name within the bride’s patterns for him to find on the wedding night. The henna takes hours to dry and deepen to its rich color, so the bride needs her maid of honor and loved ones by her side throughout, and it is said that the darker the color, the deeper the love.
The Baraat
Finally comes the baraat, the groom’s procession to the wedding venue, sometimes on a white horse or even an elephant, surrounded by family and friends dancing to the beat of the dhol drum. It is the last of the pre-wedding celebrations, and the joyful beginning of the wedding itself.
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