If you like it then you better put a bindi on it...

The title is a slight misnomer (but more on that later) ... we went to Banaras for a wedding last week and ended up staying to attend another one later that weekend.... The second wedding was a bit of a surprise, but we had always intended to spend some extra time in Banaras since Allen is planning to do his year of field work there -- I had never been before, so it was an opportunity for us to imagine ourselves living there (after all the time we've spent in Lucknow so far).

The Weddings
So I should preface all my remarks by first saying that I don't have the slightest clue what all is involved in a Hindu wedding --- I definitely have a better idea about some of the parts of the celebration, but by no means have a clear picture of all the proceedings.... thank you Wikipedia (click for article on Hindu wedding celebration). Essentially there are many different pujas involved in the wedding ceremony - mostly having to do with removing the daughter from her family and making that transition to her new family. The process can take several days - forcing the new couple to sometimes go without sleep for days ... sort of puts all the "stress" of my own wedding in perspective.

We attended the part of the ceremony that was the most public, meaning we picked up the groom, paraded him through town (literally, with a band and florescent lights on generators), took him to meet the bride at the shaadi-ghar (literally, wedding house), where they exchanged garlands of flowers, and everyone was served tons of amazing food. I'm sort of making light of the hours of parading and dancing and singing and laughing and cheering ... but I hope you get the idea from the following photos:

The happy groom on horseback

I didn't at first understand the need for the lights (or the generator attached to the lights) until we came across roads that were little more than gravel... they served as street-lights and I'm assuming were meant to prevent someone from breaking their neck while parading

What is a proper parade without dancing...

And what is proper dancing without a decent band

The happy couple, post garland exchange

Signs and symbols of marriage
I've been asking a lot about this in preparation for these wedding but have yet to get a definitive (authoritative) answer on the subject of what are the symbols of marriage in India. While our wedding bands have a lot of significance in the United States and the Western World in general - they have no meaning in India, where frequently both genders will be wearing multiple rings on each hand. While bindis (wore on the chakra between the eyes), nose rings, and bangles have been associated with marriage in the past, they are being adopted by the younger generation for fashion. I'm told the only real ways for Hindu women (because there are no signs for men) to mark they are married are to wear sindoor (red coloring in the part of her hair), silver toe rings on both her second toes, and a mangalsutra (a necklace of gold and black beads)