Neela and Ste's Wedding

Neela and Ste's wedding was held in Calcutta, India - and so we headed out for a week to take part in it (a very wise decision as this was a wonderful experience). The following is my interpretation of what happened - not necessarily fact but as Neela's Dad said "We're Bengalis - there is no plan".

The day before the wedding the girls headed over to the venue to have mehendi done. Neela's was very impressive - covering both front and back of her hands and forearms. The rest of us had much simpler work to done and seemed to have one traditionally bengali design, and one more modern design. All of them were unique, and none of them were based on designs in a book, so none of us knew quite what we were going to get.

The day of the wedding, we headed off to the venue for the start of the celebrations. Whilst we ate breakfast, the priest and Neela's uncle (the head of the family) asked the forefathers for their blessings. We then moved outside where Neela was stood between two chairs with string around them "penning" her in. Their were 4 pots on the outside of this "pen" and she had to crush them by lifting her leg over the string and then crushing them with her heel. This seemed to be something to do with leaving behind her single status. The next bit was when it all got messy - the turmeric bit. Turmeric is used to purify and cleanse, and the married ladies get to put it on Neela's face. I got to participate at this point, and started off being very kind and just putting a small amount on Neela. I was then told off by one of her relatives and instructed I was supposed to cover her face in it - so I did. It then turned into a bit of a turmeric fight as the ladies covered each other in it, then me, and then decided that the rest of our group couldn't be left out and so we left the venue with differing quantities of turmeric on our faces.

In the evening, as I wasn't wearing a sari and could dress myself, we went to Ste's "surrogate parents" place to accompany Ste to the ceremony. He was dotted with sandalwood, and put on his "silly hat". We all left him there to follow in his specially adorned car (which I missed).

At the venue Neela sat on one of the thrones for a good hour or so as people came to her to pay their respects, bring gifts and so on. Ste started off doing a similar thing in a throne downstairs. Then he moved upstairs and sat with the priest and Neela's uncle for a while before rising to greet Neela who was walking along with her face covered with leaves and looking at the floor (she's not allowed to look at her husband yet). The ceremony progresses with lots of sanskrit, flowers, blessings and them having their clothes tied together until the end of the evening before a fire was lit and they had to walk around it 3 times. Ste then applied the Sindoor to Neela's head and they were officially married. They then moved together to sit together on the thrones and greet their guests whilst we got to go and eat some wonderful bengali food.

(77 images.)

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Mehendi I
Mehendi I
Mehendi II
Mehendi II
Mehendi III
Mehendi III
Mehendi IV
Mehendi IV
Mehendi V
Mehendi V
Mehendi VI
Mehendi VI
Morning I
Morning I
Morning II
Morning II
Morning III
Morning III
Morning IV
Morning IV
Morning V
Morning V
Morning VI
Morning VI
Morning VII
Morning VII
Morning VIII
Morning VIII
Morning IX
Morning IX
Morning X
Morning X
Morning XI
Morning XI
Morning XII
Morning XII
Morning XIII
Morning XIII
Morning XIV
Morning XIV
Morning XV
Morning XV
Morning XVI
Morning XVI
Morning XVII
Morning XVII
Morning XVIII
Morning XVIII
Morning XIX
Morning XIX
Morning XX
Morning XX
Morning XXI
Morning XXI
Morning XXII
Morning XXII
Morning XXIII
Morning XXIII
Morning XXIV
Morning XXIV
Hands
Hands
Ready to go I
Ready to go I
Ready to go II
Ready to go II
With Ste I
With Ste I
With Ste II
With Ste II
With Ste III
With Ste III
With Ste IV
With Ste IV
With Ste V
With Ste V
With Ste VI
With Ste VI
With Ste VII
With Ste VII
With Ste VIII
With Ste VIII
Wedding I
Wedding I
Wedding II
Wedding II
Wedding III
Wedding III
Wedding IV
Wedding IV
Wedding V
Wedding V
Wedding VI
Wedding VI
Wedding VII
Wedding VII
Wedding VIII
Wedding VIII
Wedding IX
Wedding IX
Wedding X
Wedding X
Wedding XI
Wedding XI
Wedding XII
Wedding XII
Wedding XIII
Wedding XIII
Wedding XIV
Wedding XIV
Wedding XV
Wedding XV
Wedding XVI
Wedding XVI
Wedding XVII
Wedding XVII
Wedding XVIII
Wedding XVIII
Wedding XIX
Wedding XIX
Wedding XX
Wedding XX
Wedding XXI
Wedding XXI
Wedding XXII
Wedding XXII
Wedding XXIII
Wedding XXIII
Wedding XXIV
Wedding XXIV
Wedding XXV
Wedding XXV
Wedding XXVI
Wedding XXVI
Wedding XXVII
Wedding XXVII
Wedding XXVIII
Wedding XXVIII
Wedding XXIX
Wedding XXIX
Wedding XXX
Wedding XXX
Wedding XXXI
Wedding XXXI
Wedding XXXII
Wedding XXXII
Wedding XXXIII
Wedding XXXIII
Wedding XXXIV
Wedding XXXIV
Wedding XXXV
Wedding XXXV
Wedding XXXVI
Wedding XXXVI

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