Well it's not actually a chapel here in India--it's a reception hall, but either way they were goin to get married. Last week I had the wonderful privilege of going to the wedding for one of my fellow teachers. I was ridiculously happy to be invited because one of the main things I wanted to do this year while I was in India was to be able to go to an Indian/Hindu wedding. Marriages/weddings in India are a HUGE deal and a ginormous party is expected no matter what religion you are. Besides the party I really wanted to witness a Hindu marriage ceremony because they are so different from what we are accustomed to in western culture. And on top of all that...I was able to get all dressed up and decked out in a Sari! It was the first time in over three months that I have actually gotten ready and I kinda felt like my American self for a minute (minus the sari).
The wedding consisted of a reception on Tuesday night and the ceremony early Wednesday morning (we're talkin 6:30am people). I would have to say that even though the ceremony was really cool to witness, Tuesday night was my favorite of the two events. The main reason for this was that ALL of Rising Star came out to support Dhanasekaran, the teacher that got married. Literally, we had every teacher there, all the office staff, the drivers, the cleaners, Padmini the cook, all the kids in 7th-10th standard, and all the current volunteers. This was just further testament that Rising Star is like one big family--the fact that so many people wanted to come out and support Dhanasekaran's marriage was really amazing to witness. What was also great is that because there were so many people coming from Rising Star (and a lot of the staff commute really far to work cause we are in the middle of nowhere) everyone hung around at Rising Star after work until the wedding--it was like a giant play day! All the male teachers, office staff, drivers, and the older boys started a serious cricket game (they even had money on it) while all the girls took time to change into their fancy saris and get all ready. When it came time to leave it took two 13 passenger vans, one 14 passenger car, and an eight-seater SUV to get everyone to the wedding--and each vehicle was packed to bursting with some people even standing in the vans.
We all arrived at the wedding at different times but they were so excited to have white people/americans at the wedding that we were treated like the guests of honor. We were escorted to the front of the reception hall and a huge video camera with a giant light took about 10 minutes of film of us just sitting in our seats waiting for the bride and groom to arrive. The reception is basically just a time for friends and family to give their gifts to the couple and then a big meal is provided. So we came, gave our gift, ate dinner (where again we were treated like royals and given bottled water when no one else was, had food heaped on our plates, and sat at a special table at the front of the dining hall). It was seriously a wonderful night out. It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up for the night and having fun together at the wedding. All the kids were dressed in their best clothes and were SO EXCITED to see "maths sir" get married. It was just awesome. :)
Here are a few pics from the reception:
The wedding consisted of a reception on Tuesday night and the ceremony early Wednesday morning (we're talkin 6:30am people). I would have to say that even though the ceremony was really cool to witness, Tuesday night was my favorite of the two events. The main reason for this was that ALL of Rising Star came out to support Dhanasekaran, the teacher that got married. Literally, we had every teacher there, all the office staff, the drivers, the cleaners, Padmini the cook, all the kids in 7th-10th standard, and all the current volunteers. This was just further testament that Rising Star is like one big family--the fact that so many people wanted to come out and support Dhanasekaran's marriage was really amazing to witness. What was also great is that because there were so many people coming from Rising Star (and a lot of the staff commute really far to work cause we are in the middle of nowhere) everyone hung around at Rising Star after work until the wedding--it was like a giant play day! All the male teachers, office staff, drivers, and the older boys started a serious cricket game (they even had money on it) while all the girls took time to change into their fancy saris and get all ready. When it came time to leave it took two 13 passenger vans, one 14 passenger car, and an eight-seater SUV to get everyone to the wedding--and each vehicle was packed to bursting with some people even standing in the vans.
We all arrived at the wedding at different times but they were so excited to have white people/americans at the wedding that we were treated like the guests of honor. We were escorted to the front of the reception hall and a huge video camera with a giant light took about 10 minutes of film of us just sitting in our seats waiting for the bride and groom to arrive. The reception is basically just a time for friends and family to give their gifts to the couple and then a big meal is provided. So we came, gave our gift, ate dinner (where again we were treated like royals and given bottled water when no one else was, had food heaped on our plates, and sat at a special table at the front of the dining hall). It was seriously a wonderful night out. It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up for the night and having fun together at the wedding. All the kids were dressed in their best clothes and were SO EXCITED to see "maths sir" get married. It was just awesome. :)
Here are a few pics from the reception:
This band was rockin throughout the entire reception and wedding
This is the camera that was on us for most of the night--we felt like we were on "Real World"
The reception hall was PACKED. This is the view to the back from our front row seats.
The lovely couple. Their marriage was arranged (which is very common here in India) so this was only the second or third time they had met.
The couple with all the Rising Star cleaning staff
The couple with the volunteers and all the older RSO boys...and Archana :)
The couple with all the older RSO girls and the RSO teachers
Our "VIP" dinner table for all the American volunteers (my face sure is lovely in this picture)
The outside of the reception hall--they make sure even the outside of the building is decked out.
With all the kids, Kala and Vikram after the reception
Rebecca, Jeff and I: the little green house family all dressed up for a night on the town
Big sign outside the reception hall announcing whose marriage was taking place
The stage where all the pictures were taken.
The beautiful bride
Our dinner for the night--scrumptious!
SO EXCITED to be at an Indian/Hindu wedding!
As mentioned earlier, the next day the festivities started bright and early--we left Rising Star at 6:30am and arrived at the marriage ceremony just before 7. We did not have the huge entourage that we had had the night before. For the marriage ceremony, the housemothers that were not able to come to the reception came, the kids from 5th and 6th standard came, and only a handful of volunteers. The ceremony was already in progress when we arrived but again we were ushered straight to the front. The same band from the night before played throughout the ceremony and to be honest, I wasn't aware of a lot that was going on. Unlike wedding ceremonies in America, there is no real announcement that the ceremony is starting or what is happening. People chat and come and go from the hall as they please, the camera people stand right in front of the couple and block most of what is happening, and the band is playing so loud that you can't really hear anything of what the marriage ceremony leader is saying (even if it wasn't in Tamil). All of those things may sound negative but they are not by any means--they are just part of the culture of Indian/Hindu marriages. The best way to explain what happened in the ceremony is with the pictures so here is another slew of photos depicting day 2 of the wedding extravaganza:
They switched things around a little from the reception and the band played on the stage where we had taken pictures the night before and the ceremony took place on the main stage. The entire ceremony took place within this giant frame of flowers. *Notice the camera people filming every moment of the ceremony.
The couple sat on the floor for the whole ceremony and the shirtless man on the left was the ceremony leader/holy man. The immediate family stands within the frame for the entire ceremony.
At one point someone walked around and gave everyone flowers that we went up and threw on the couple at a designated point in the ceremony. The flower throwing is their way of congratulating the couple and giving them your blessing.
The ceremony leader walked through the hall with the jasmine wreaths (an essential part of a ceremony) on a plate and people were able to give their own blessing on the plate and the wreaths to further bless the couple.
The couple waiting for the ceremony leader to come back to the stage.
After we were invited onto the stage to throw our flowers on the couple, they had us stay on stage to watch the exchanging of the jasmine wreaths, the most important part of the ceremony (or so I was told). Kim took these awesome shots of the stage and the family.
I don't know why but to me this picture captures the feeling of the whole ceremony.
The exchanging of the jasmine wreaths: they put them on each other then took them off and put them on themselves multiple times to symbolize their union.
After the jasmine wreaths were exchanged, the turban was wrapped around Dhanasekaran's head and gold bands were tied around his head as well as the bride's. I asked a few of the older kids what this symbolized and they told me it was just what they do in a wedding...thanks for the insight kids. ;)
5th and 6th standard were ECSTATIC to be able to attend the marriage ceremony. They woke up at 4:30am to get all ready to come. When it came time for pictures, all the kids ran up on stage and surrounded "maths sir" to congratulate him. He was so happy to see so many of his students at the wedding and the bride was also very amused by their excitement. :)
All the volunteers with the now-married couple
Kim, Rebecca and I at breakfast after the ceremony. We were again treated like royals and given way more food than we could possibly eat. I cannot express enough how giving and kind Indian people are. They are always ready to show the guests (especially those of us from America) how grateful they are for our love and support.
Gotta love a traditional Indian breakfast
Overall it was an amazing two days and I experienced something completely unique to this awesome country. Much like the rest of India, the whole ceremony was lively and filled with color--from the saris to the flowers to the lighting and music the place was just buzzing.Besides being able to witness something so new and foreign to me, it was also so fun to have a night out with the Rising Star family. One of the best things was being able to see all the kids so excited over one of their teachers getting married--the wedding was over a week ago and it's still all they talk about. Basically RSO is a unique and amazing place and being able to experience this wedding with the entire RSO family made it all that much better. It was a fantastic few days that I won't forget! :)
With beautiful Amirtham back at RSO after the ceremony
More to come soon about other happenings here at RSO! I have a zillion pictures of the marriage weekend so if you want to see more there is a Facebook album forthcoming :)
Vanakkam
