Big Fat Eventful Weddings of South India

Source: Medium.com

A ceremony that unites two persons through the ritual of marriage is called a wedding. Different traditional and cultural events of a wedding vary widely in every aspect. They are conducted by following rituals and formalities practised by the respective community that takes to the value of heritage. Similarly, Telugu matrimony also has its wedding garments, performing rituals by exchanging marriage vows, religious chants and other events.

The Telugu wedding is a bit distinct from the weddings of other parts of south India; here the maternal uncle of the bride, along with her brother plays an important role in the whole function. A Telugu marriage ceremony is comprised of many events. In the 16th century, a Telugu marriage function required almost 2 weeks to complete which in recent times have reduced to 3-4 days.

Different Events of Telugu Marriage

A wedding ceremony is always a merry event filled with joy and happiness. Right from the Telugu matrimony search, the families involved starts getting prepared for the events of the wedding. The different events can be summed up as follows -

• Mangal Snanam: Both the bride and groom are supposed to clean all their impurities and attain sanctity, with a special bath, to participate in the sacred marriage ceremony.

• Arti: This event is held in the respective residence of the bride and groom. This event is about applying oil on them and after that, a puja and arti are conducted by the families for wishing happy and prosperous married life of the couple.

• Ganesh and Gauri Puja: A puja is offered to the Lord Ganesha and Goddess Gauri at the mandapam, which is the dais where the main marriage ceremony is held.

• Kanyadaan: This ceremony symbolises handing over the bride and her life to the groom, by her family. Also, the bride’s family treats the groom as an avatar of God and therefore washes his feet.

According to the ritual the bride and groom cannot see each other before the completion of the ceremony, hence they are separated and guarded by a curtain. The maternal uncle of the bride carries her in a bamboo basket to the wedding dais (mandapam).

• Jilakara Bellamu and Madhuparkaam: From this ceremony onwards a priest utters holy chants and the couple applies a paste of jaggery and cumin seeds in the hands of each other which symbolises togetherness and harmony for life.

In the other ceremony, the bride wears a white saree with a red border and the groom wears a dhoti of the same colour combination. The colours white and red stand for purity and strength respectively.

• Sumangli: This is a colourful event where 10 married women, who are referred to as Sumangli, carries plates containing rice, turmeric powder and lamp and stands with the bride. Every event has a meaning, here the rice signifies abundance and the lamp signifies light.

• Tying Mangalsutra: Before this ritual starts, the curtain is now raised and the groom ties the mangalsutra around the bride's neck with three knots. This symbolises the spiritual, mental and physical bonding of the couple's lives.

• Kanyadan Akshata: In this event, a floral garland is exchanged. All the family members and guests present there to shower their blessings by sprinkling flower petals and turmeric rice on the couple.

• Saptapadi: Here the couple is tied a knot together by the end of the bride's saree and the groom\'s dhoti. They walk seven rounds around the fire lit and take seven vows of togetherness.

• Sthaalipaakam: The groom in this ceremony puts a pair of silver toe rings on the feet of the bride. While performing this ritual, the bride wears a string of black beads which is believed to keep her from any evil eye. The toe ring and the black string are symbols of being a married woman.

The bride is also made to cook a dish of a namesake meal which symbolises her taking care of the health of her husband and her future family.

• Arundhati Nakshatram: Arundhati and Vasistha are two stars or nakshatra, which are shown to both the bride and groom in this ritual. These two nakshatra complements each other which are symbolism for the couple in their conjugal life.

• Appagintalu: This custom marks the end of the whole wedding ceremony. In this ritual, the bride is handed off traditionally to the groom and his family. It is quite an emotional event for the bride and her parents.

Matrimonial Sites

Just like social networking sites, matrimonial sites are meant for knowing people but with a different agenda. These sites serve the purpose of finding matrimonial matches. Several matrimonial sites encircle only the regional community, for example, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi etc. Telugu matrimony log in requires either a unique identification number or any other confidential information for access, therefore security is maintained.

Telugu matrimonial sites provide contacts and information of matches from every Telugu community around the world. In fact, many matrimonial sites are there which are created on the basis of regional community in different countries. Telugu New Zealand matrimony one of a similar kind.

Even in the Telugu matrimonial sites in New Zealand, classified contacts are provided for prospective brides and grooms. One can find numerous options of matrimonial matches from these sites according to their respective preferences like Telugu New Zealand matrimony brides or grooms of inner communities like Reddy, Kamma, Arya Vysya, Yadav, Kappu etc.

Most of the sites own experience of making matches for many years. They provide confidentiality in contacts that prevents every ill practice.

Source: https://balkrishan-weblink.medium.com/why-telegu-weddings-are-considered-as-most-colourful-2e8ebe9d33a4