Ceremony Of Nepalese Wedding

Introduction

Nepal is a country situated in between China and India. The people of Nepal have three major religions they follow, namely: Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholicism but 80% of the population take Hinduism as their religion and follow Hindu culture. Hindu culture has its own way of celebrating a wedding. The wedding happens for four ritual days, without including the recently added three days of the modernized way of celebrating marriage in Nepal. In order to understand the client’s proposal, it is necessary to understand each and every aspect of a Nepalese wedding (traditional and modern). A brief insight to traditional Hindu weddings is demonstrated below

Brief summary

In the Hindu religion, a wedding is not only the celebration of two people coming together and expressing their love but also accepting the responsibilities that come with it. Marriage in the Hindu religion is a sacramental union of two souls destined to get married at this age and time. According to the Shastric Hindu law (Holy Law), there are sixteen different sanaskaras (sacrament for every Hindu) that one has to complete during his life in order to understand life at its fullest and to prepare themselves for the afterlife. Marriage is one of the important sanaskaras. Marriage in Shastric Hindu law teaches women to fight through immense pain while bearing a child and yet remain partial among their children and the family. Similarly, marriage according to the Shastric law teaches men to guide their offspring’s towards nirvana. The Veda (Holy book of Hindu) proclaims that “Life can be truly understood with family”. “He is only happy who consists of his wife and offspring.” “Those who have motivation and support for their wives are truly successful, those who have wives are truly happy.” For a Hindu marriage is essential, not only for bearing a son as a respect to the bloodline that has followed but also for performing various religious and spiritual duties. The institution of marriage is considered sacred even by those who view it as a civil contract.

The wife is the “ardhangini” (another half of a soul) according to Satpatha Brahmana “The female is just an ordinary person until she marries. After the marriage Man and Woman become one complete human being”. Manu (the first man) stated “the purpose of a human being is to understand life as it is and that can only be achieved if there is marriage between any living souls”. Manu declared marriage to the most important dharma in Satpatha Brahmana. According to Mahabharata (one of the holy books of Hinduism), by esteeming the woman, one virtually cherishes the Goddess of prosperity (Laxmi mata) herself. A wife under Hindu law is not only a “grihapatni” (Head of household) but also a “dharma patni” (Supporter to husband) and “shadharmini” (The wife is her husband’s best of friends). She is the source of Dharma (Truth about reality), Artha (Meaning), Kama (Pleasure), and Moksha (Liberation). The husband is known as “bharthi” (Warrior). He is also known as Pati because he is supposed to support his wife.

Nepalese wedding

The goal of marriage in Hinduism is to achieve, not self-interest, but discipline and love for the entire family, which keeps the family united and prevents it from breakdown. These religious believes make Hindu weddings truly spiritual. However, through the course of time Hindu wedding has also welcomed western principles for weddings. Therefore, a wedding in a Hindu country is quite different from what it used to be a century ago. This report will try to accumulate the neo-classical wedding practices in Nepal.

Nepali Wedding Engagements

The Nepali Hindu engagement is known as the “Tika-tala”. This generally means the trading of good wishes and promises through the tikaa, the maroon red imprinting made between the eyes during an “aarti” (religious ritual of worship). While the Nepali Hindu engagement commences the wedding, it remains commonly low-profile with a basic gathering of bride and husband to be. The man for the most part goes to the lady of the hour’s home joined by his loved ones. The genuine function includes the basic trade of a guarantee between the bride and the groom to get hitched. This is normally hardened with spoken pledges. After that, the couple agrees to their wedding date. Nepali weddings depend vigorously on favorable dates and star arrangements. The Muhurat, the date and time of the wedding found out by a priest counseling the horoscopes of bride and husband to be, guarantees that the couple is honored in their marriage. Since engagement is finished and finished with, it’s the ideal opportunity for genuine wedding arrangements. Like the engagement, Nepali wedding ceremonies will in general be more humble than they are in different parts of South Asia.

Pre-wedding tradition

One of the most significant wedding ceremonies is the Bagdan, a Ganesh pooja. The lady of the hour’s dad keeps a coconut, a betel nut, an areca nut, consecrated string, and some kernals in a Kalash, or pot. He holds the Kalash over his head and pronounces he is giving his little girl away to the child of whomever the man of the hour’s dad is. He at that point hands the Kalash over to his future father-in-law as otherworldly and figurative gifting of his little girl. Following the Bagdan is the Swayamvara. This function is acquired from the scene in the Ramayan during which Sita chooses Ram after he lifts and strings Shiva’s bow. The Swayamvara is established in ‘self-decision’ and the bride must pick her better half from various gathered suitors, who are formally welcome to participate. Before she picks her significant other, the bride implores the goddess Parvati, Lord Shiva’s better half, to assist her with settling on a decent decision. Prior to the age, suitors needed to substantiate themselves with a presentation of arrow-based weaponry, much the same as Ram. At the point when the bride picks her significant other, she puts a garland around his neck. After the Swayamvara function, the Saipata ceremony begins. The ideal opportunity for this custom is set by the celestial prophet. During the Saipata, the husband to put his palm prints on a white cloth. It is then sent to the lady of the hour’s home, alongside a few presents and went before by a band. On the off chance that the bride acknowledges the endowments, she adds her palm prints to the material, subsequently symbolizing her acknowledgment of the proposition. The lady sends back her very own Saipata as a kind of formal greeting for the husband-to-be.

Wedding Proper

Pre-wedding is all about the calm before the storm. The rites and rituals of a Nepali wedding is extended over four days. On the wedding day to honor and worship the ancestors, the bride’s family performs fasting and “martika poojam”.

The ceremony usually starts with the “janti” or also known as the wedding procession. Janti is referred to the groom’s family and friends who shows support for the groom by jolly dancing and singing all the way to the bride’s house or the wedding venue where the wedding ritual happens. The groom is escorted either in a car or a horse-drawn carriage to the wedding venue. Before the wedding procession, the groom’s family prays to Lord Ganesh (the lord of a new beginning).

After the arrival of the groom to the bride’s house, her family walks around the groom thrice and throws “lawa-akshat” (peeled rice) over everyone present in the Janti as a sign of welcome. As almost all the rituals are influenced by God himself, an “aarti” (sacramental worship) is done followed by Tika ceremony. Then the groom settles on a wooden seat called “Pida” in the courtyard waiting for the bride to arrive.

Nepali wedding’s utmost importance is given to the “Kanyadan ceremony” (giving away the bride) in which the groom is seated on a mandap facing east. They are draped by a piece of yellow cloth by the bridge’s parents (the ones performing kanyadan). The ceremony is filled with sentiments and unexplainable strong emotions. Her parents place her right hand onto the groom’s right hand and announce publicly that they are giving away their daughter in presence of the priest making holy fir and other gods as witnesses. Then the groom says his vows and both the bride and groom stand up together repeat few prayers and walk around the holy fire thrice and throws popped rice thrice as a sign of welcoming the gods into the wedding. Furthermore, Godadhuwa ceremony is performed where the couple sits next to each other and the bride’s family washes the groom and the bride’s feet using a copper bowl.

Then the eight mountains are worshiped. The popped rice is collected in eight places separately; each place representing the mountain. After that the couples exchange garlands which are made out of the grass. Wedding rings are also exchanged during this time. Next, the groom applies sindoor (vermillion powder) to the bride’s hair parting thrice. While applying Sindoor for the third time the couple is officially considered as husband-wife. Then, the bridge bows to the groom by touching his feet with her forehead to express respect she has for him as a husband

Post-wedding traditions.

After the wedding proper, many games and ritual are yet to be completed. After the wedding proper, the bride goes to grooms house and different rituals and games are held in order to welcome the new bride.

One of the rituals are placing a cloth over the bride and groom where all the guests and the priest performs chanting of prayers by sprinkling paddy seeds to the couple. They then apply tika to both the groom’s and bride’s foreheads.

At this post the wedding is close to the end of the ceremony and stretched till night. The bride and groom apply ashes from the holy fire to their neck, forehead, shoulders and chest. While refreshments are served to the guest. All the groomsmen settle for the night in the bridges house where else the bride and groom take a nap in separate rooms. The next morning the bride enters the groom’s house as his wife. Children from the groom’s side try to tease the bride by stopping her from crossing the gate. They will stop after the groom pays them some amount or gives them some goodies.

A short ritual called “Chaturthi” is performed closing the fourth day of the wedding. Finally, the bride takes a shower and changes her clothes in her new house and prays to Lord Ganesh for a better future for her and her family.