Crazy Weddings Traditions from all over India!

While weddings are an occasion to celebrate and rejoice with your loved ones, a prominent aspect of weddings across the world are the rituals and traditions associated with them. Whether it’s the bride’s father walking her down the aisle or the brothers lifting her up on the wedding mandap, every community has some endearing traditions involved with weddings. India, with its diverse traditions and cultures, has some of the most interesting traditions and rituals performed at weddings of different communities, states and sects. Here are some of the most unique insights about Indian weddings that might make your jaw drop or tickle a funny bone:

• Juicy Weddings

Welcoming the groom with flowers is passe for the people in Sarsual, U.P. They welcome the family of the groom by throwing tomatoes on them. The community believes relationships that begin with unpleasantness turn into long-standing and fulfilling love.

• Mind Games

An interesting take on consent comes to light at Tamil weddings where the groom happens to deny the marriage as he walks to the mandap and as a part of a tradition called ‘Kasi Yaatrai’. The bride’s father is then supposed to convince him to marry his daughter.

• Tree Bride

In a number of Hindu communities, if the bride happens to be ‘maanglik’, she is made to marry a tree before she can actually get married to the groom in question. The ritual is believed to ward off any astrological bad luck to the couple and lend a long life to the groom.

• No more Mumma’s Boy

As a custom among the Bengali community, the mother of the groom would not allowed to come and attend the wedding ritual. It was believed that the mother’s presence was not auspicious and she stayed home to welcome the bride and groom. Although scarcely followed now, this ritual still takes place in some parts of Bengal.

• The Bride and Groom’s Troops

An unusual tradition of carrying a white flag to lead the baraat is followed at Kumaoni weddings. A man holding the white flag leads the procession and represents the groom whereas the last man in the procession holds a red flag, representing the bride.

• Nourishing the groom

Gujarati traditionally welcome the groom by washing his feet with a mixture of milk and honey. The bride’s parents wash his feet and offer a ‘madhuparka’ or sweet beverage made of curd and sugar or honey before he sits on the mandap.

• Something Fishy

Fish are not only considered a great meal at Manipuri weddings, they are an intrinsic part of the wedding rituals too. During the ceremony, a taki fish is released into a pond by one woman from each side. If the two fish float together, it is considered to be a good omen.

• Pass on the luck

The punjabi community has an interesting tradition of tying ‘kalire’, or small golden bell-like accessories on the bride’s wrists. Right before the wedding, she shakes her set of kalire together over unmarried friends or cousins and if a piece of the kalire fall on someone, they are considered to be next in line for marriage.