Indian Hindu Wedding Ceremonies in Bolton, Lancashire and at the Renaissance Hotel, Manchester.
Hindu weddings take place over several days and we covered all three days of Dina and Rakesh's wedding in Bolton and Manchester. Friday was the first day of our 3 day coverage of Dina and Rakesh’s Indian wedding. Dina’s henna party (mendhi) was the first part of the weekend’s events. Dina enjoyed the dancing at the beginning of the evening but she couldn’t dance for long as she had to have her hands and feet decorated with henna (mendhi). Dina’s mendhi was very delicate and intricate and certainly the most complicated so it took most of the evening to apply. She was kept busy chatting with ladies at the party and entertained by others! The dancing went on all evening.
The second day of the wedding was spent conducting several holy sacraments (sanskaras) in the brides home and in the grooms home. A hindu marriage is also about the joining together of two families and so the families of the bride and groom play a big part in the preparations for the wedding and the wedding ceremonies. I, Alison, started the day with Dina and her family at their home. It was only 8:30am and Dina and her parents were already with the priest, making offerings which are intended to remove any obstacles to the wedding and to bless Dina and Rakesh. The way in which the offerings are made are intricate and complicated. At one point Dina’s father got a bit confused which caused amusement for Dina and her mother!
After the offerings have been made, Dina is then prepared to be a bride by the female family members. Part of the preparations include smearing the bride (and the groom - more of that later!) on her face, arms and legs with a paste made with turmeric powder. This is known as ‘pithi’ and is intended to cleanse the bride and groom. The paste colours and softens the skin to help the bride and groom look their best on the wedding day! You can see that Dina was well and truly covered! Dina told me that in some traditions this process of covering the bride with the turmeric powder can happen every day for the 5 days prior to the wedding. The turmeric really does stain the skin then and the bride can look rather yellow on her wedding day! Once Dina was covered there was a bit of a turmeric-paste fight. Dina had a chance to cover her father with the paste too. He was well and truly yellow!
After the pithi it was back to make more offerings. Meanwhile Stephen was photographing similar scenes unfolding at Rakesh’s family home: more turmeric paste! Rakesh and his family then moved location from the family home to a nearby hall to continue with further ceremonial offerings.
After a long day of performing sacraments the evening was time for a party and a joining of family and friends. Hindu wedding preparations in Bolton, Lancashire It wasn’t long before the dancing started and it kept going for the rest of the night. One of the dances, the dandia raas, was performed with colourful sticks. It took a bit to get the in the swing of performing the right moves! Dina’s father was a bit of a relucant dancer, so was ‘encouraged’ to join in by some of his family!
The third day of Dina and Rakesh’s Indian wedding was the actual wedding day. I, Alison, started the day early, arriving at Dina’s family home at 6:30am to travel into Manchester with Dina and her sister Raksha. We arrived at the Renaissance Hotel on Deansgate in Manchester at just after 7:00am and Dina was joined by her friends Reshma, Fiona and Sabina and they helped with Dina’s final preparations.
Meanwhile Stephen was with Rakesh at his family home in Bolton where he too was making the final preparations. Hindu Indian Wedding in Manchester city centre Rakesh then made the journey from Bolton to Manchester where he was greeted by Dina’s mother, sister and other female family members. Dholl drumers also accompanied Rakesh into the hotel. With Rakesh guided to the mandap by Dina’s family, the Priest, Raju Bhai, then began the wedding ceremony. After some initial rituals where offerings were made to Lord Ganesh and Rakesh’s feet are washed by Dina’s parents, It was then time for Dina to make her entrance with her father.
At first a piece of fabric is held up between Dina and Rakesh so they cannot see each other. The fabric is dropped and they can see each other for the first time. The first part of the ceremony involved Dina and Rakesh exchanging flower garlands to show their acceptance, love and commitment to each other. Rakesh’s scarf was then tied to Dina’s clothing to symbolise the union of their two souls. Offerings were made to the holy fire and then Dina and Rakesh circled the fire (mangal fera) four times to signify the four essential aspects of life in Hindu philosophy. They were also blessed by their family and showered with petals. Seven vows were made to represent the goals that they now have as a married couple. Rakesh then placed a gold and black beaded necklace on Dina and red powder (sindoor) on her forehead to symbolise the eternal bond of their marriage. The final part of the ceremony included married women whispering their blessings in Dina’s right ear, family members exchanging gifts and the fathers also symbolically sealing the marriage.
After the ceremony the guests were ready for their dinner and there was a lot of interest in the table plan! After dinner it was time for Dina and Rakesh to leave and return to Rakesh’s family home to be welcomed as a married couple. Before they could get away Dina’s sister and cousin would not let the car leave without a payment from Rakesh’s brother!
