Monday, November 9, 2009

The bride will be escorted by an unmarried b




A group of women, known as Daala, will proceed to the bride's place to dress her in the wedding goth veil and crown but some time it will be of Oriental style, accompanied by a white garland. The bride will be escorted by an unmarried brother or cousin to her wedding hall where the ladies have gathered for the occasion. The father of the bride (called the Wakil) will choose two other male relatives (called the Gawaas) and will go and ask her if she is willingly consenting to the marriage. All men will then move to a nearby mosque to wait for the religious ceremony to take place.
On the groom's side, the mother will make him drink a glass of milk at home after a short prayer, and will then go to welcome her guests at their wedding hall. A cortège of men, called the Baraat, will accompany the groom to the mosque mentioned before. The groom will be escorted by his father. At the nuptial ceremony, called the Nikah, the priest will first ask the father of the bride if he accepts to give her daughter in marriage. Then he will turn to the groom and will ask him if he is accepting the bride in marriage. All questions and answers are repeated three times, after which a prayer is said to bless the union. The groom will be offered a glass of sugared water of which he must drink half. The rest is quickly taken to the bride for her to drink, together with an envelope containing an amount of money called the Moharr. This money is symbolically offered by the groom to the bride to start her financial independence. The men will then disperse after being served with cakes and some of them will accompany the groom to the bride's wedding hall. The groom (or Dulha) and the bride (or Dulhine) will be seated next to each other on a raised dais and will exchange wedding rings while music is being played. Meanwhile cakes will be distributed to the assistance. Group photos will be taken as well as video filming, and gift envelopes exchanged. After about one hour the groom and bride will take leave to proceed to the groom's wedding hall, and the bride will be accompanied by a chaperon. Usually the bride sheds one or two tears while saying good-bye. There the meeting will last for another hour, with group photos, video, gift envelopes ... etc. At last the groom will take the bride to his residence and the guests will disperse.

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