Indian Wedding Baraat: Barat Welcome in India

Indian weddings are a holy union connecting two individuals, their families, exchanging years old cultures and traditions and adapting to the new environment. Usually, the wedding ceremony is a sequence of multicolored and bright events, continuing for a period of around 7days. Its seems to be fortunate for those who get to see or attend the functions of an Indian wedding as weddings in India are considered to be a delight to witness since there are many exhilarating and thrilling customs and traditions related to them. Regardless of the differences in their culture and tradition as people are from different religious background, Indian weddings are believed to be an occasion of great.

Baraat in an event entirely meant to welcome the groom and his family. It’s kind of an event wherein the groom and everyone from the groom’s side are given a special welcome with flowers, garlands and money showering in the cases of the rich and the wealthy. Hence, Barat is one of the coolest and most entertaining traditions in the whole wedding ritual, which is marked by a march starting from the groom’s residence accompanied by all the near and dear ones from the groom’s side, dancing away in full glory and the groom becoming the ‘hot wane babes of the day’. As the baraat reaches at the entrance of the wedding venue, they exchange greetings with the bride’s family known as ‘Milni’, followed by the groom’s ‘Aarti’ which is performed by the bride’s mother and after finishing all these small ceremonies the groom’s crowd go into the wedding site.

Sangeet Night: Dance and Music on Sangeet Night

Sangeet Night is mainly associated with Indian Weddings, which is organized before one day of wedding and sometimes Sangeet Night and mehndi nights is organized together. Sangeet Night is organized in bride as well groom’s home. On this day all the close relatives of bride and groom’s family gather at their homes. In older times this day was specially associated with ladies. Indian traditional wedding songs were used to sung by ladies and they were also used to perform dance on those songs.

Now the time has changed. Now a days men also participate in this function. Now there is a fashion of DJs and Dhols. Bollywood songs are played on DJ. Dhol walas are called and all the relatives dance and enjoy the Sangeet Night a lot. Every religion in India has different culture and customs and based on that they celebrate this night like Gujratis have their own traditional songs and dances like Garbha, Dandiya and Bhangra is most famous in Punjabis. Like the same every religion in India celebrate this special night as per their tradition and culture.

These Sangeet Nights are not only limited to family members and relatives. These days people call upon famous celebrities, dance groups and traditional singing groups to give special performances on this day. And instead of celebrating the Sangeet Night at home they book farmhouses, hotels or any open space or resorts.

Main Wedding Ceremony: Varmala Ceremony

The main day ceremonies are usually conducted at the bride’s parent’s house but at the present age due to lack of space, majority of the wedding ceremonies are held at a place where all the guests can be easily accommodated comfortably and every single wedding ceremony could be arranged with ease and lots of entertainment. The main day wedding ceremonies are full of hardcore rituals which in no case or at any point of time can be taken lightly. According to the Indian traditions, wedding is a life long union of two individuals and a holy association, which brings a young man and a young woman to a stage of manhood and womanhood. The main wedding ceremony can be divided into mandap ceremony and var mala ceremony.

• Varmala Ceremony: Var Mala is known as one of the most important wedding ceremonies of the main wedding day. During this ceremony bride and groom exchange flower garland.

• Mandap Ceremony: Mandap is a place where the bride and the groom will be performing all the wedding ceremonies and rituals while the Indian priest, “pundit” reads the religious hymns at the backdrop. The mandap is decorated with vibrant colors which usually pray for their richness and well being of their married life, adorned with some exclusive flowers on the other hand. Surrounding the mandap are the four pillars representing both the bride and the groom’s parents. These pillars express the bride and the groom’s gratitude towards their parents for their well up-bringing and for making them the fine man and woman they are today. The most significant ceremonies performed around the mandap are the “saat phere” and the “kanyadan”. Saat phere signifies the seven circles taken by the bride and the groom around the holy fire, chanting holy mantras, making promises to each other. While on the other hand, kanyadan is yet another ritual of the main wedding, where the bride’s father or brother in front of all the family members and guests as witnesses, gives her hands to the groom with all her responsibilities coming forth!