It was an incredible day, filled with food, social gathering and above all knowing a new pre wedding ceremony. I heard of this ceremony but never been part of it. This ceremony is new to me, even though I am hardly 100 km away from my home yet this region has all new custom and tradition. It is great to know something new and more importantly, I get a chance to have fish party after a long time.
The new rituals is know "haldi-pani". As the name suggest it includes applying haldi i.e turmeric and pani is water. This pre-wedding ritual similar to an engagement, where the families of the bride and groom formally accept the marriage alliance. The bride family visit the groom home, to accept his family for the new alliance. It's the first official step where both families agree on the marriage, marking the bride and groom as "reserved" for each other. The bride's family applies a mark of honor i.e Tilak made up of turmeric to the groom forehead, a significant part of the ceremony. Post the blessing the groom, every start applying to each other, kind of holi celebration. The situation is such that you may end up ruining your cloth. It often becomes a playful, fun-filled event where everyone ends up with some of the yellow paste on them.
Haldi is considered auspicious because of its symbolic, medicinal, and spiritual significance, especially in pre-wedding rituals. It represents purity, prosperity, and good luck, with its golden yellow color being a harbinger of new beginnings.
The ritual is followed up with meals. To make the ceremony auspicious, the groom family gives a Fish fiesta to everyone. It should be noted that, Fish are considered auspicious due to their symbolic connection to prosperity, fertility, and abundance in many cultures. So to mark the new alliance between the family fish is must to be served.
I am from the groom side, to sneak into the kitchen to take a look.. what all cooking. They have rice, pulses, fritters, fries , fish fry, fish gravy, salads and sweet. They prepared around 60KG of fish for the fiesta that includes the family member from the bride family, along with own family and relative. In total the arrangement is for 150 person. So the cooking is of huge qty.
As a normal process first the guest were served with foods. Once the haldi ritual were completed, they were taken to the tent for the meals. They were made to seat in the table. The fish were already served on plates to avoid any distinction.
All the items that were cooked were served to each member. We do not have buffet system in place. So everyone will be greeted and served with food. There is no limit, and one can eat as much as possible. We keep serving them, whatever they ask for.
By the way, we still favor leaf plate for food than plastic plate. After making sure all the guest were done with the meals, it will be the rest of the relatives turn to have the meals. And I made sure not to leave anything behind.
Such occasion is also a good way to meet different person. It a kind of community social gathering. An even that mark the first step towards the new alliance and followed by a good meals for all. Soon the remaining marriage formalities will be completed in next few month. Happy to be part of this new custom.
In good faith - Peace!!
