Gujarati community is deeply immersed in cultural ethics. They take great pride in celebrating their religious and cultural ceremonies with much devotion. They are vibrant and very lively. Hence, when it comes to Gujarati marriages, they consider it as a pious occasion that involves prayers, rituals and entertaining customs. Actually they are very eager to participate in most possible matrimony events and celebrate with great pomp and show. Gujarati Matrimony is famou for the entertaining events like music, beautiful dance, traditional garba, colorful clothing, and traditional cuisine.
Typically, the first formal approval of marriage in Gujarati community starts with the Sagaii or engagement. This is a traditional ceremony where in bride and her family members arrives to the groom’s place for formalize the marriage ceremony. At this time, generally they give holy items like kanku, sakar and shriphal to the groom’s parents to formalize the marriage between bride and groom. Now a day, there is little change observed in celebrating the engagement ceremony by exchanging the ring between bride and groom. This must be kind of innovation in celebrating events. And it is true that Gujarati community is known for their innovations and creation.
Gujarati is known for their traditional Garba and ideally they do not prefer to leave the wedding ceremony without celebrating it without this natural art of dance and garba. The night prior to the wedding day, the bride and groom families perform garba that fills the atmosphere of the venue with vibrant dressing and enthusiasm. Many Gujarati families even call professional singers or orchestra party for the entertainment. The idea behind these ceremonies is to enjoy, eat, drink, and dance with the feeling of togetherness.
Gujarati wedding is characterized with several pre wedding, wedding day and post wedding ceremonies. Pre wedding ceremonies are the significant part of the wedding ceremony to create a festive mood with family members. These ceremonies are performed individually at bride and groom’s place. Generally, the ceremonies celebrated prior to wedding are Ghari puja, Ganesh Matli, Ganesh Sthapan, Mandaap Muharat, Mehandi and Pithi. Almost all these rituals are performed in almost all the sub caste of Gujarati community.
Ghari puja is a pre wedding custom. The priest performs a puja with rice, wheat, coconut, oil, turmeric, betel nuts and number of other spices. The married women of the family grind the wheat on small old fashioned grinder which symbolizes the prosperity of the family. The groom offers handful of grains to the priest which indicates that although he is going to put his step into new lifestyle but he will always give a charity to his less fortunate family members. All this customs involves lot of family values.
Ghari puja is a pre wedding custom. The priest performs a puja with rice, wheat, coconut, oil, turmeric, betel nuts and number of other spices. The married women of the family grind the wheat on small old fashioned grinder which symbolizes the prosperity of the family. The groom offers handful of grains to the priest which indicates that although he is going to put his step into new lifestyle but he will always give a charity to his less fortunate family members. All this customs involves lot of family values.
Ganesh Matli is the ritual where in the bride and groom mothers dress up in their bridal finery and carry earthen pot full of water on their heads. They walk to their threshold of their homes. The son-in-law of respective families cut the water with the knife to ward off any evil spirits. Ganesh Sthapan is the performed by the bride and groom parents’ individually which is considered auspicious for any important occasion. Mandaap Muharat is again the exclusive custom performed by Gujarati. This ritual is about planting a holy Mandaap on the auspicious day and time. Mandaap is the kind of shelter created by cloth under which the marriage ceremony is solemnized.
Like other Indian matrimony, in Gujarati matrimonial Mehandi (Henna) is the ceremony performed wherein the bride, groom and their family members individually put on mehandi on their hands. Pithi is the ritual in which holy paste made from turmeric, oil, perfume and rosewater are applied to the bride and groom to purify them. The ceremony is again celebrated in their respective house with their nearest family members. The relatives sing traditional wedding songs by which the atmosphere becomes very lively.
Most of the Gujarati families also believe in performing Grihshanti puja before wedding ceremony which is having lot of religious values. This puja symbolizes to get blessings from the God to get prosperity, health, fertility and happy married life to the newly wedded couple.
............. to be continued
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