Saris and Henna and Naan, Oh My!
Well, this past weekend was a busy one. So many new experiences, fabulous clothes, and wonderful new foods...it all kinda blurred together after a while. The experience was kind of like being hit by a big, colourful, curry-flavoured truck. It left me feeling mildly concussed and ever since, day to day life has seemed a little bland.
R, my boss's daughter, got married. That's the short version. Also, I was invited.
Here's the long version.
Thursday (my birthday), I went to the family's house for a henna-hand-painting session. There was a woman who does it professionally there and she was amazing. I got this great flowery mass of vines running from my wrist to my finger tips (really emphasizes the length of my hand and makes it look far more graceful than it actually is). This incredibly complex, entirely original design took this woman three minutes. You should have seen the bride! Her arms and legs were COVERED, front to back with gorgeous patterns. Anyways, mine should last another week or so, if I don't go out of my way to scrub it off. Maybe I'll try to post pics.
We followed the henna session with lamb and potatoes and salad, and Jon and I headed for home. Next day, we had a pre-wedding dinner. Lots of different foods, most I don't know the names of. Pakoras as appetizers. Lots of lamb and chicken and things in rich sauces which we mopped up with some tasty naan bread. The evening consisted of ceremonies involving R and her bridesmaids and the groom's family. Kind of a welcome to the clan thing.
Next day was the wedding itself. I got to wear my sari! It's burgundy and red with lots of sparkly bits. Saris are really hard to put on, and it took me a few tried and some research to figure out how to get mine right. Bangles, an indian-style necklace, and some strappy heels put the finishing touches on my outfit. It wound up being really really cool (I'll wear it in the future definately), and I was asked if I did modelling and offered a little job in an 'East meets West' style fashion show some time in June. I found this funny, and who knows, maybe I'll call the woman who passed me her card. We'll see.
My outfit was nothing compared to the bride's! She first appeared in a gorgeous white sari, all beaded with white, lots of gold jewlery. Later, after the ceremony, she showed up at the reception in a red sari with what must have been hugely heavy gold-work all over it. We heard speeches (not great), saw dances (fabulous...a whole troup of guys doing a perfectly choreographed, extended routine, with much standing on each other's shoulders), ate a ton (really tasty green stuff that had chunks of lamb in it was a personal favourite), and finished the night with a turn on the dancefloor ourselves.
My little summary does not do justice to the experience. I was pretty tired the whole time, and recovering from some nasty bug, but was still amazed. I wish I had such a wealth of culture in my background! Well...maybe I do...I ought to do some research and come up with some really old-style Celtic traditions...hmmm...
I never want to have such a huge wedding though. The sheer amount of stress and agony that family went through was incredible! It's amazing the wedding happened at all, remarkable that everyone is still talking to each other, and a happy surprise that everything worked out as well as it did. If you ask me, it's not worth it.
R, my boss's daughter, got married. That's the short version. Also, I was invited.
Here's the long version.
Thursday (my birthday), I went to the family's house for a henna-hand-painting session. There was a woman who does it professionally there and she was amazing. I got this great flowery mass of vines running from my wrist to my finger tips (really emphasizes the length of my hand and makes it look far more graceful than it actually is). This incredibly complex, entirely original design took this woman three minutes. You should have seen the bride! Her arms and legs were COVERED, front to back with gorgeous patterns. Anyways, mine should last another week or so, if I don't go out of my way to scrub it off. Maybe I'll try to post pics.
We followed the henna session with lamb and potatoes and salad, and Jon and I headed for home. Next day, we had a pre-wedding dinner. Lots of different foods, most I don't know the names of. Pakoras as appetizers. Lots of lamb and chicken and things in rich sauces which we mopped up with some tasty naan bread. The evening consisted of ceremonies involving R and her bridesmaids and the groom's family. Kind of a welcome to the clan thing.
Next day was the wedding itself. I got to wear my sari! It's burgundy and red with lots of sparkly bits. Saris are really hard to put on, and it took me a few tried and some research to figure out how to get mine right. Bangles, an indian-style necklace, and some strappy heels put the finishing touches on my outfit. It wound up being really really cool (I'll wear it in the future definately), and I was asked if I did modelling and offered a little job in an 'East meets West' style fashion show some time in June. I found this funny, and who knows, maybe I'll call the woman who passed me her card. We'll see.
My outfit was nothing compared to the bride's! She first appeared in a gorgeous white sari, all beaded with white, lots of gold jewlery. Later, after the ceremony, she showed up at the reception in a red sari with what must have been hugely heavy gold-work all over it. We heard speeches (not great), saw dances (fabulous...a whole troup of guys doing a perfectly choreographed, extended routine, with much standing on each other's shoulders), ate a ton (really tasty green stuff that had chunks of lamb in it was a personal favourite), and finished the night with a turn on the dancefloor ourselves.
My little summary does not do justice to the experience. I was pretty tired the whole time, and recovering from some nasty bug, but was still amazed. I wish I had such a wealth of culture in my background! Well...maybe I do...I ought to do some research and come up with some really old-style Celtic traditions...hmmm...
I never want to have such a huge wedding though. The sheer amount of stress and agony that family went through was incredible! It's amazing the wedding happened at all, remarkable that everyone is still talking to each other, and a happy surprise that everything worked out as well as it did. If you ask me, it's not worth it.
posted by Keltok at 6:42 PM
3 Comments:
Defiante envy on my part...the only time I ever got any where near an Indian wedding was at the reception afterwards. The Kids of the townhouse I lived in were friends so their parents invited me to try some of the food there. Needless to say I just HAD to bite into the hotest thing I could find~LOL~ Typical, eh?
Anyway...How bout I bring my camera over friday if not sooner and I'll take pictures of your hand for you AND of Moe at the same time^_^ Thurs and Fri are my 4pm days or if you've time and if I get that dope sheet done I could even come over say....wed night briefly? I'll leave that up to you though^_^ Was good to see you both and damn I really need to get you and my class mates out together so we can all hang out. They're really cool peeps^_^
I went to just the ceremony and after party of an indian wedding once, and it was great. I think it was a Punjabi wedding . . . Me and mom were quite embarassed when, while going into the temple, we thought we had it all sorted out with the no shoes and the hair covered. We got to the end of the entrance line down the middle of the temple proper, and found to our embarassment that we didn't have any money out to toss into the gilded trough (?)in front of the dude (priest? head of the temple?) who was sitting in this sort of fancy semi-enclosure.
I still dream about the food.
I just had to do a lion dance at a now-former coworker's wedding. Lots of fun, that was.
'Course, I was totally paranoid that I was going to somehow let it slip (it was supposed to be a surprise), 'cause I spend most of my day working within ten feet of the groom.
I am the world's most horrid liar; probably why I don't do it very often.
Suffice it to say that rather than something as classy as a Sari, I attended the wedding in Sequined pants (we call them "disco pants"), a golden vest with Chinese characters on them, and a red sash.
That's when I wasn't hopping around under a giant blanket with a big-ass lion head adorning one end.
Yeah, I got to dress really classily for this one.
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