How To Properly Tie an Indian Sari:
1) Put on the petticoat and blouse
2) Unwrap all 6 meters of fabric, and find the end that is less exciting
3) Take that end, and start to tuck it into the petticoat above your hip, and continue around till its wrapped once
4) Now that you have it wrapped once, take the other end, wrap it around your waist without tucking, and toss the proper amount you want sitting on your shoulder, over your shoulder
5) At this point a lot of material should be floating around the front. Time to make some pleats! Make 5-6) pleats by folding the fabric, pin it, and tuck it into the front of your sari, below the belly button
7) Finally, take the piece draped over your shoulder, nicely fold it, and put in a pin. Now you have properly tied a sari!
Orrrrr....
1) Find a nice Indian woman who actually knows what she's doing, and have her do it.
Fortunately, I went for option 2, and Adil's sister helped to tie the sari's that I wore to the wedding festivities on Saturday and Sunday. Here were the final products (surprisingly comfortable once they were on):
Wedding festivities actually started Friday night with a 'small' family dinner and a traditional turmeric paste rubbing ceremony for the groom.. with 100 guests. We of course had dinner, met the fam. for the first time, and had our own little Bollywood dance party. Turns out Khadeeja is a very good dancer!
Saturday was the actual ceremony, and we went to the 'medium-sized' wedding around 8 PM... apparently still pretty early. Oh right there were 800 people there. That's medium!! We got there to find the groom on a stage sitting, and a small display of gifts off to the side. I asked where the bride was, and was told "She'll be here soon, don't worry.". Soon after arriving, the groom became surrounded by a dense crowd of men, and I found out that he was actually physically signing the legal wedding agreement, and all of those men were the witnesses. After he was finished signing, the paper was taken to another location (later determined to be the brides chambers) and a voice came over loud speakers, apparently giving play-by-play in Hindi. After a few minutes passed, the room erupted in cheers and congratulations.... they were married! Needless to say I was a little confused and very lost.. when exactly was the 'real' ceremony going to take place? Well, that WAS the real ceremony people, that's how Muslim Weddings work. So we all got some food (There was fortunately a crowd of kids related to the family our age.. some new people to talk to!) and the bride surfaced around 10 PM to finally be seen with her new husband. This was actually a love marriage, but the ceremony was still very traditional, because when she finally came to sit with him, he wasn't actually allowed to look at her until he saw her first through a mirror-- another special ceremony that was performed later that night. So, all-in-all, pretty interesting and enlightening experience. Sunday was just a reception (smaller, about 500 people..) for the bride and groom, and we had the opportunity to talk to them and the family more about all of the traditions, and we shared a little about what our traditional wedding was like. Something I wasn't very fond of: Being the ONLY white people there. Not surprisingly, we drew some serious attention, even though I put a big effort into dressing in Indian clothes, and way too many times Emily and I were asked to take pictures, meet even more family, and shake multiple peoples hands. The price for being close to the wedding party I guess.
Today was our last day of 'classes'. Bittersweet. I took my Hindi Final, turned in my Hindi Final Project, finish my field studies seminar, turned in my HHR paper.... and all thats left is my Independent Study Project. You could say I'm nervous/scared/excited all at the sammmme time when I think about leaving Delhi, and travelling out to Jaipur. As I am spending my days planning my life for the next month, its crazy to think that its actually not that far-fetched to think of myself out alone. I mean, i AM 21 years old, OFFICIALLY a real adult, in all cultures and legal settings. I'm not sure I'm totally ready for that responsibility, but for the next month, I'm going to get my first taste. Wish me luck, and look for some updates about my project!
PS- More pictures of the wedding are being added to the photo page!
1) Put on the petticoat and blouse
2) Unwrap all 6 meters of fabric, and find the end that is less exciting
3) Take that end, and start to tuck it into the petticoat above your hip, and continue around till its wrapped once
4) Now that you have it wrapped once, take the other end, wrap it around your waist without tucking, and toss the proper amount you want sitting on your shoulder, over your shoulder
5) At this point a lot of material should be floating around the front. Time to make some pleats! Make 5-6) pleats by folding the fabric, pin it, and tuck it into the front of your sari, below the belly button
7) Finally, take the piece draped over your shoulder, nicely fold it, and put in a pin. Now you have properly tied a sari!
Orrrrr....
1) Find a nice Indian woman who actually knows what she's doing, and have her do it.
Fortunately, I went for option 2, and Adil's sister helped to tie the sari's that I wore to the wedding festivities on Saturday and Sunday. Here were the final products (surprisingly comfortable once they were on):
Wedding festivities actually started Friday night with a 'small' family dinner and a traditional turmeric paste rubbing ceremony for the groom.. with 100 guests. We of course had dinner, met the fam. for the first time, and had our own little Bollywood dance party. Turns out Khadeeja is a very good dancer!
Saturday was the actual ceremony, and we went to the 'medium-sized' wedding around 8 PM... apparently still pretty early. Oh right there were 800 people there. That's medium!! We got there to find the groom on a stage sitting, and a small display of gifts off to the side. I asked where the bride was, and was told "She'll be here soon, don't worry.". Soon after arriving, the groom became surrounded by a dense crowd of men, and I found out that he was actually physically signing the legal wedding agreement, and all of those men were the witnesses. After he was finished signing, the paper was taken to another location (later determined to be the brides chambers) and a voice came over loud speakers, apparently giving play-by-play in Hindi. After a few minutes passed, the room erupted in cheers and congratulations.... they were married! Needless to say I was a little confused and very lost.. when exactly was the 'real' ceremony going to take place? Well, that WAS the real ceremony people, that's how Muslim Weddings work. So we all got some food (There was fortunately a crowd of kids related to the family our age.. some new people to talk to!) and the bride surfaced around 10 PM to finally be seen with her new husband. This was actually a love marriage, but the ceremony was still very traditional, because when she finally came to sit with him, he wasn't actually allowed to look at her until he saw her first through a mirror-- another special ceremony that was performed later that night. So, all-in-all, pretty interesting and enlightening experience. Sunday was just a reception (smaller, about 500 people..) for the bride and groom, and we had the opportunity to talk to them and the family more about all of the traditions, and we shared a little about what our traditional wedding was like. Something I wasn't very fond of: Being the ONLY white people there. Not surprisingly, we drew some serious attention, even though I put a big effort into dressing in Indian clothes, and way too many times Emily and I were asked to take pictures, meet even more family, and shake multiple peoples hands. The price for being close to the wedding party I guess.
Today was our last day of 'classes'. Bittersweet. I took my Hindi Final, turned in my Hindi Final Project, finish my field studies seminar, turned in my HHR paper.... and all thats left is my Independent Study Project. You could say I'm nervous/scared/excited all at the sammmme time when I think about leaving Delhi, and travelling out to Jaipur. As I am spending my days planning my life for the next month, its crazy to think that its actually not that far-fetched to think of myself out alone. I mean, i AM 21 years old, OFFICIALLY a real adult, in all cultures and legal settings. I'm not sure I'm totally ready for that responsibility, but for the next month, I'm going to get my first taste. Wish me luck, and look for some updates about my project!
PS- More pictures of the wedding are being added to the photo page!
rachael you look beautiful as far as being 21 embrace life and all it has to offer i know you will make wise choices the world is yours for the taking with responsibilties attached i know you can handle it i love you very much gramma x0 x0
ReplyDeleteWOW....I Love the pictures! The wedding festivities are amazing. The bride is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAs for you and Emily...gorgeous!!!!!!
Please post more pictures!
Missing you in the US! mom
Wow, you look beautiful. Love the outfits. Great pics. Love you.
ReplyDeleteAunt Laura