Congrats!!!!! May your lives be filled with joy!!!

Oooooh welcome back and congratulations! I'm anxious to hear more about the wedding!!

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Everyone knows that laugher is great foreplay!

Wow!!! Welcome back....I love hearing/reading about different types of cultural traditions...this is soooooooo cool! Congrats BTW!!! ((((((((((Osuche))))))))))))

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

Welcome Back... I hope you had a wonderfully stress-free time

We missed you too.....mind if I pull up a chair and have a listen too?

I could bring some beer?

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If someone offers a penny for your thoughts and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny??

Don’t let the hardship of the past, take away from the joy of the present

WB and congratulations!

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-Toast-
"It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit - but none to be offended by them." -- Johnny Hart ("BC", cartoonist, 2000)
"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog: Nobody really enjoys it and the frog generally dies as a result." -- E. B. White

Missed you girl!!! Welcome back!!

Congrats!

Hey, just what do the Indians wear under those deerskins?

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My Only Two Stories Anywhere!

Afternoon Delight

Delightful Rendezvous!

Is the love I gave her in the past, gonna be enough to last, if tomorrow never comes........

Here's a summary of the different "wedding events" we had over the past 10 days.... I've described each below, as well as listed them how WE did them chronologically.... However, we compressed several ceremonies together, and some were not in their most traditional order.

Any errors or omissions are my fault.


Day 1 -- Saturday May 21st

I arrived on a red eye flight from SFO to Columbus at about 9 am. When I got to Mr. Osuche's mom's house, the first ceremony was already underway.

A. Adan Pradan
Adan Pradan (give and take) is a ceremony that involves the matching of ancestral lines or bangsas in the presence of a purohit (priest). The purpose is to ensure that the marriage does not take place between close relatives or persons having the same gotra (lineage).


B. Vridhi (conducted about 12 pm)
This is about offering puja (worship) to the ancestors of the bride and the groom. It is attended by all the family members. All the samagri or items for the puja are arranged in a baran dala. A baran dala is a silver plate containing items for puja. A 'Sri' symbol is made in the baran dala. The purohit brings an idol of Bhagwan Narayan to the puja. The idol is worshipped by lighting agarbattis (incense sticks) and diyas (lamps). The vridhi is usually performed by a paternal uncle. Tradition demands that the uncle and the bride/groom be on a liquid diet.

C. Ashirbaad (Around 6 pm that day)
The "engagement ceremony" is a gathering of both families with an emphasis on the exchange of gifts, discussions, negotiations and the fixing the date for the marriage. The elders bless the couple by showering them with 'dhaan' (husked rice) and 'dooba' (three blades of grass), which they place on the couple's heads.

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

Day 2 -- Friday, May 27th

I arrived back from Chicago (where I was working Mon-Thurs) at 9 pm Thursday night. Friday morning the festivities started again.

A. Wedding Piris (12 pm on Friday)
The piris (ritual seats from the bride and groom during the wedding) are brought to the bride's house a day before the wedding or on the wedding day. A relative or friend paints and decorates the piris. When the decoration is completed and the piris presented by the proud artist, conch shells are blown and ululation taken up.

B. Gae halud tattva
Gifts are presentede for the bride from the groom's house. The gifts include at least six sarees with blouses, petticoats and cosmetics to go with them. Also among the gifts are fish, assorted sweets, curd, paan, dhaan and durba. A relative of the groom arrives at the bride's house with an entourage of servants bearing the gifts. Incense is lit welcome them and conch shells are blown. These gifts are part of the groom's promise to care for the bride for the rest of their lives together.

C. Snan (about 6 pm that evening)
The snan literally means bathing. In this case, it stands for the bathing rituals that the bride and groom must individually follow on the day of the wedding. The bathing is done in tumeric powder and paste. Turmeric is placed all over the body of the bride and groom to make them beautiful and fair-skinned. A few married women apply turmeric and oil on the hair and body of the bride/groom. After bathing, the bride and groom must wear the new set of clothes that have been presented to them by their in-laws.

D. Sankha Porana (10 pm that evening)
The bride follows the tradition of wearing sankha porana or conch shell bangles that have been dipped in turmeric water. After her bath she wears a new sari and wears the sankha poranas. There are actually 3 bracelets that must be worn by the bride (traditionally for the rest of her life, from this moment) -- one is iron, one is conch, and one is coral.

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

Day 3 -- Saturday, May 28th

This was my wedding and reception day.

A. Dodhi Mangal (5 am, day of the wedding)
This ceremony is performed at the crack of dawn on the day of the wedding in the house of the bride and of the groom. About ten married women accompany the bride/groom to a nearby pond. They invite the Goddess Ganga to the wedding and bring back a pitcher of water from the pond to individually bathe the bride and the groom. Then they offer food to the bride/groom. The meal consists of puffed rice, raw yogurt, and sweets. The bride and groom cannot eat again until they are married. The relatives of the groom bless the bride and groom by placing yogurt on their foreheads (third eye) and saying prayers.

B. Wedding Ceremony (from 2-4 pm)
Observance I: Bride's grandpa and Priest will sit and will recite hymns and sprinkle water (and sometimes purified butter) here and there. Purpose of those hymns is to pray for holiness, completeness, and success of the ceremony. We will have fire burning in front of us, we will invoke the Holy Spirit and request the fire to deliver our prayer to Him.

Those hymns can be translated as follows:
I salute you, fire, the all mighty, the high priest, the eternal messenger to God. I invite you so that you awaken our consciousness, fulfill our
dreams, bring us happiness, give us wisdom to protect us from evil, and
bring victory in our life. Pleas invite the Eternal Spirit and carry my
offerings to Him. Fire! A worship overseen by you never fails. Complete this
worship for us. Be benevolent to us like a father to his child, like a true friend to a friend. Forgive our mistakes and unite the bride and groom. Please accept our offerings of (name a few items that he will offer).

Observance II: {During Shubahdrishhti (First glance) and Malyavinimaya (Exchange of garlands)} As the bride walks around the groom, the father/grandfather listens to priest reciting some Sanskrit hymns.

A figurative summary follows:
You the guests please bless our commendable bride and groom so that: they can have a long happy conjugal life; those who oppose, be destroyed; the disrupters flee; and all inconveniences of their life vanish. Let their benevolence create a haven in their home for themselves, their children, other relatives, guests, and pets.

{At that time you are done exchanging garlands and both of you recite
after me some Sanskrit hymns that can be translated as follows:
Let the Supreme Being help this sacred union of our mind and soul and form the ultimate synthesis. Your heart be mine my heart be yours. You give me your full support, your attention and respect}

Observance III: {During Sampradana (Giving away the bride)}:
The essence can be captured in a few lines where your grandpa welcomes the bride and the groom. During this welcoming process and following that he will listen to what I recite and after (almost) every hymn hands the groom different items. Again I will put the individual items in his hand and tell him to pass those on to the groom.

This portion ends when the hymn asks the groom to promise that he will obey the rules of conduct. Translated that hymn goes as follows:
I present my graceful granddaughter who is about to be married. You who will be her husband please promise that for the sake of your belief, for the sake of wealth, and/or for the sake of your lust you will not disobey your own loyal codes. The groom says I do.

C. Bashi Biye (about 4 pm)
The groom adorns the forehead of his bride with vermilion. This vermillion is the sign that she is married. He uses his wedding ring to anoint her forehead with the vermillion. The newly-weds visit the mandap, and worship the Sun God in the presence of the purohit.

D. Reception (approximately 5 pm - 10 pm)
I changed for the reception, and then we welcomed guests, ate, drank, danced, and even cut the wedding cake. This was more "traditional" type affair, although even it had a wedding flair.

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

Most of these happened on Sunday, May 29th

A. Phool Sajja (2 am)
The last of the wedding ceremonies, this occasion sees the bride in a new sari and the groom in a new dhoti and kurta. Their nuptial bedroom is beautifully decorated with flowers, which is why the term, phool sajja. The flowers, clothes and sweets for the occasion usually arrive as gifts from the bride's house. The husband and wife get to sleep together (FINALLY!)

B. Bou Bhat (10 am)
It is during this ceremony that the bride has her first meal in the home of her in-laws. Until now, her meals usually arrive from a neighbour's house.

C. Dira Gaman (8 pm)
A ceremony that is conducted when the newly-weds visit the bride's house for the first time after the wedding. The groom presents the bride with a sari and some food and promises to take care of her for the rest of her life. The ceremony is followed by a family celebration.

__________________
Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

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"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

I can see that this is not something that you just throw together over a weekend. Thank-you for writting in detail all the different parts of the wedding festival. I wish both of you all the best as you settle into your new home. One other thing, you are not allowed to gloat about the weather come winter.

Here is a sample of the blessing.

Attached Images

	blessing.jpg (3.7 KB, 189 views)
	Offering_to_gods.jpg (5.3 KB, 184 views)

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

Mostly these were from the first Saturday. I'm still waiting on getting the wedding pohotos from the photographer.

Attached Images

	Adan_Pradan.jpg (8.7 KB, 163 views)
	Adan_Pradan_2.jpg (8.6 KB, 141 views)
	Adan_Pradan_3.jpg (8.6 KB, 153 views)
	Fire_and_conch.jpg (5.9 KB, 149 views)
	food_for_celebration.jpg (6.7 KB, 150 views)

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney