A Wedding in Kerala

5:30 a.m. this morning my host mother knocked on my bedroom door to wake me up. We had a three hour drive ahead of us to Thrissur, Kerala for the wedding of one of my host father’s colleagues! I got up and groggily put on my green Diwali salwaar, made tea for my host mother and I, brushed my teeth, grabbed my rain coat and then the two of us went down and met two other colleagues of my host father who had come with a driver to pick us up.
It has been raining non-stop since yesterday afternoon, soaking the ground and causing the streets to be flooded with brown muddy water. The group of us drove through the city at 6:15 a.m. – the streets were already crowded with the early risers, and along with the other traffic on the roads our car waded through the waters. We even passed a parking lot that was completely flooded with at least six inches of water!
We arrived at the marriage hall around 9:30 a.m., just as the traditions were beginning. The first thing we saw was the groom leaving the hall (don’t worry, he came back!) to go out in front and have his feet washed. He was then carried in a small wooden chair over the heads of all of his relatives to a swinging white bench that had been set up in the middle of the crowd. It was there where his bride met him, and the two of them placed three or four strings of colorful flowers over one another’s heads before sitting down on the bench and swinging back and forth together. After about a minute of this (and about a hundred flashes from cameras…) the two stood up and the elder relatives came forward and each places a small spoonful of milk onto the feet of the bride and groom. The elders then each took a small candle and circled around the couple three times. (Three seems to be the most auspicious number, because not only did the elders walk around three times, but three is also the number of times that an Ayer, or Priest, will circle the flame around the head of the God or Goddess in a temple.)
The whole procession was then taken inside the hall where the bride and groom were taken to a beautifully decorated stage and seated on a grass mat beside the Ayer who commenced several more traditions. My favorite one though had to be where the bride sat on her father’s lap- it is a tradition to symbolize the father’s “giving” of his daughter to her new husband, who stands in front of them and takes her hand to pull her up. The bride had the biggest smile on her face during this!
The traditions ended with photos of the bride and groom with anyone and everyone invited. My host mother and I took a photo, congratulated the couple and then left the hall to go out back where breakfast/lunch was being served on banana leaves! We waited until a space at one of the long white tables was free and then sat down to eat. The food was AMAZING! We had rice with all sorts of dishes along with it, my favorite being one specific to Kerala that had pineapple in it!