Time to get into the wedding garments!! Right there on the roof! A white Punjabi and white lungi now with his white wedding hat. The astrologers say 12:11 a.m. is the perfect time tonight to perform the marriage rituals. So, back down to the bottom floor under the 4 posted structure with the priest.
Many pan leaves were used throughout the rituals.
To begin with, a long white cloth was tied on to cover Shubho’s face while his bride-to-be was brought in. She came in holding 2 pan leaves in front of her face
They stood in front of each other, under a white cloth, an oil burning candlestick held between them😳 while they took turns reaching around the burning candlestick putting a dab of red between the eyebrows of each other. The veil and flame were removed.
They both held up a wreath of white flowers and took turns moving their wreath thru the other wreath and up over their partner’s head and back off and thru again. A bit tricky with Baroti’s tiara and Shubho’s topor 🙃They each repeated the ritual several times.
Cross legged on the floor across from each other with the priest on the middle side reading from his handbook. One or both of them would be mumbling a repeat. Little bits of grasses, a banana, etc, etc would be picked up.
At one point, Baroti looked about to cry and I wondered what was going on or why. Otherwise she looked happy or excited. Another time, she beckoned for her friend? to come to her aid… her nose hoop ring had come unclasped and was dangling by its gold chain from where it was attached in her hair… The priest, never skipping a beat
There was the ceremony where Baroti circled around the area and Shubho 7 times stopping each round to dab the top of each of Shubho’s feet with oil?. Then Shubho’s helper woman would place a pan leaf over his feet till Baroti made it around again. It appeared like the leaves were to keep track of the rounds. Baroti took great care as she made her rounds.She had a narrow path with all the ceremony jinish(stuff) in the middle with candles burning setting there on the floor, yards of floor length Sari skirt, and then the ring of observers.
Then there was the ceremony where Shubho and Baroti reached across with her hand on top of his and the priest reading from his book and putting things on top of their hands… little bits of stuff?, flower petals, etc, etc. this part seemed to go on for quite some time especially considering they were sitting cross legged across from each other and it was a full reach to meet in the middle. By this time, Baroti’s eyelids kept falling shut as the priest droned on. Lastly he wrapped banana leaves around the whole stack and their hands, tied it with something and sprinkled more oil, flower petals,..
After this, a cloth was tied from Shubho’s lungi to Baroti’s Sari and from then on they performed the rituals side by side
Shubho then proceeded to put the red stripe from her forehead up into her hair parting that symbolizes marriage in the Hindu culture. Also the white bangles and other bracelets were donned on her wrists.
They got up and took a break, hung out with their friends a bit while the next ritual was prepared. 7 circles were drawn on the floor in a line. The priest made a small fire and then the bridal pair came back. A rice sifter with a pile of rice grains was placed in Baroti’s hands. She put one foot on a small club that was positioned at the 1st circle. Shubho stood behind her with his hands on her forearms and put his foot right behind Baroti’s as she slid the club along the line of circles stopping to dump a little rice on the fire every so often. Made me think of some of the relay feats we try to perform on School Year End Play days😅
So all thru these rituals, Baroti had a lady assisting her also… right there prompting her, helping the priest prepare and Baroti to perform the rituals,..
another thing to note, was the atmosphere of the place… It was not quiet or formal.. guests visited and moved about at will, children would walk right thru the ceremony tent.
At one point, the lady assisting Baroti stepped up to me and asked when we were going to sleep as their rituals cont. and the hours slipped by.. the crowd got less but there were still some that stayed to the end.
The final ritual for the event was the blessing of the womb… the last part, they needed a baby for. Gentry was sleeping in my arms and they asked if he could play the symbolic part, but I would need to wake him as he needed to be awake. I said, he’s out! It’s 3:00 am! She decided to try and placed him in Shubho’s arms, who passed him on to Baroti. Gentry squirmed and fussed a little and Baroti got him quiet again which seemed to be the point of the scenario and he was passed back to me..
and that was the end and we made our way out, stopping by Baroti’s family home but everybody was sleeping except a couple guests. Back out the alley to our van. The streets were dead compared to when we came in! We dropped Kobid off. at his alley. And drove the fastest down that road home as we probably ever have as it was so empty! 20 min later, Shunil opened the gate for us. Everybody in bed by shortly after 4:00 am!
It was noon before everybody was awake for the day.
Threw a load of laundry in
Made a hearty brunch
Worked on Jaira’s new dress making it more user friendly😉
Another rainy day, so we were notified that the “wedding” meal at the groom’s home wouldn’t be till 5:30 pm. Earlier when I had asked Dipti what time to go, She had told me “Shob poribar Shodda din” (all day) But then when I pressed her further for a better idea.. morning?, No.. afternoon 2-3:00.
Fine by us as we didn’t mind having a little more time between the 2 events. We walked in from Chakrakhali, water completely covering one stretch of the road.
At the groom’s home(Dipti’s) the whole yard was covered with a canopy, tables and chairs set up. The cow was no longer in the shed and they had a couple holes dug in there for cooking fires with huge pots
I found a chair in the 1st room of the house where I held Gentry almost the whole evening. So many people in such tight quarters! It was fun to be with some of the same people again tonight that we’d just got acquainted with and spent hours with at the wedding🥰 Baroti’s mom and 12 yr old brother Rudro, who was quite a charming little fellow. Dipti told me later that he is a hard working little guy, running his Dad’s dokan for him since his dad’s been sick for an extended amount of time. Two other very sweet ladies. One taught school for 8 years there in Khulna City and has been married 2 months now and lives in Chakrakhali. She knew just a bit of English so that helps for a little better communication. Other mom’s with babies were in there also stationed in front of fans.. we were going to finally go out to the tables and eat but we weren’t aggressive enough to get places at the tables and get in on that setting either, so Dipti’s sister told us she’d serve us inside. Cleared the bed and standing on it used a rag to dust it clean(little different standard of cleanliness going on here🙃) but her efforts were appreciated.
After rice, dim curry, chicken curry, and doy(yogurt)
We took our leave. Darkness had fallen and our youngest 2 seemed to have had all they could handle
Out to the path, we are told we must wait for rickshaw van, it’s coming! We tried to wait a bit but we knew our littles would be much more manageable if we would keep moving, so we slowly walked a ways. The rickshaw van did meet us before we got to the spot where we’d have to go thru the water again.
