Weddings in India, 1917
From Home Life in India by John Finnemore, 1917.
From: 1917 C.E. To: 1917 C.E.
Location: India
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Home Life in India by John Finnemore, 1917.
Ere long the day of his marriage arrives, and marriage is the greatest event in the life of a native. His wedding is celebrated, not only as well as he or his parents can afford, but often in a style which is absurd when the means of the family are considered. Friends and relations are invited from far and near; splendid dinners are spread; the priests are feasted and receive rich presents; musicians and dancing-girls are hired, at great expense, to amuse the guests; the poor crowd to the place and clamour for gifts, which must be provided; horses and palanquins are obtained; fine robes and ornaments are bought; and the day often closes with a magnificent exhibition of fireworks.
All this means money, and a great deal of money. It must be done, for custom demands it. How is the money found if the people are not well off? By loading their land with mortgages, or by borrowing from the money-lender. It is a very common thing to discover that a family has been utterly crippled for years by a wedding; it is left staggering under a load of debt, and if it gets into the hands of a grasping money-lender, that often leads to utter ruin.
The wedding-day is the day of her life to the bride. Hitherto she has been merely a daughter, and looked upon as a sort of encumbrance; for the future she will be a wife and retire to the seclusion of the zenana. But for that day she is in the centre of the stage, the observed of all observers. She wears a splendid dress of scarlet. If her family is wealthy, her robe is shot with gold and flashes with gems; if her station is humble, it glitters almost as brightly with tinsel.
The ceremony of marriage is performed in many different ways in different parts of India, but certain rites are found everywhere. The chief of these rites are three in number. First, the pouring of rice or wheat, according to the district, over the heads of the bridal pair. This is done to bring good luck, and to obtain a blessing on the union. This custom has passed from India to Europe, and it is a common thing in our own country to throw rice after or over a wedded pair for good luck.
Second, the bride is received into her husband's family, for in future she will belong to it entirely. This is carried out by the solemn eating of food by the bridal pair from the same dish. When this is over, the bride's forehead is marked with "scarlet, the symbol which shows that she is a married woman. In former times the mark was made with blood drawn from both, but now it is painted.
The third rite—that of the sacred fire—is very ancient and of great importance, for it is considered to be the binding rite of the marriage. A fire is solemnly lighted by the priest, and bride and bridegroom step seven times round it. It is a survival of early forms of fire-worship, and as the hearth fire is supposed to stand for the home, so the moving of the bride and bridegroom round the sacred fire is supposed to bind them closely together in the service of the home.
Finnemore, John. Home Life in India. A. & C. Black, 1917.
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