My 1st Guyanese wedding

Last weekend my landlord’s daughter, Aarti got married. Now, you should know that this wedding was apparently the wedding of the century as my landlord had been planning and getting ready for it for years. It was literally the only thing I heard about since I moved in 4 months ago, I was invited over and over, and then invited again, and then one more time, just to be safe. I tried to explain to my landlords, Uncle Ronald and Auntie Sarita, that since the wedding was taking place literally in my backyard, I probably wasn’t going to miss it but eventually I just started nodding and making some comment about how excited I was for the food (why else did they think I was going?). So after months and months of talking and preparing, the wedding finally happened the weekend of August 6th.

This was my first Hindu wedding so I actually was excited to see all the different traditions and ceremonies, the only thing I knew for sure was that an Indian wedding starts on Friday and ends Sunday and that there would be seven curry served at some point ( FYI, seven curry is the best food to ever exist. More on that later). I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen, at what time, or where, but I figured I would just follow the crowds of people and hang around the massive tent now covering my backyard and I wouldn’t miss much.

The first event took place on the Friday night before the wedding ceremony at the bride’s family’s house (which also happens to be my house). In the Hindu culture everything between men and women is very, very separate and weddings are no different. The bride’s family has their own celebrations and the groom’s family has there’s. At no point on Friday did I see the groom or his family. In fact, I didn’t even know what the groom looked like or what his name was until 5 minutes before the ceremony on Saturday. So on Friday night the bride’s family and friends (and me, that random white girl who lives upstairs) headed out at sunset to a “sandy area”, which I think is traditionally supposed to be a beach but who’s really paying attention, so that the mother of the bride could dig a small hole in the sand and then do a dance around it with other female members of the bride’s family. I asked someone what this process represented and I was told that by digging the first layer of sand, the mother of the bride is ensuring that the bride will have a marriage that produces many children (gotta focus on the important stuff). Auntie Sarita was dressed in a beautiful yellow sari and there were drums playing and clapping as she danced and as we all walked back to the house. When we got to the house we watched some more dancing by the bride’s family, ate some delicious channa (chickpeas) and maitai (kinda like a donut, it’s basically fried dough with sugar), and then watched the bride come out and do a religious ceremony with a lot of whispering and praying. I tried to find out what was happening but no one really seemed to know what was going on. Oh well, the food was good :)

Saturday was the big day, the ceremony and reception. The ceremony took place at a Hindu temple and lasted 3 and a half hours. It was interesting to see the ceremony but since it was all in Hindi and the chants were so fast anyways, I didn’t know what was going on at any given point. But the really important stuff happens after the ceremony. That’s when the seven curry is served. Seven curry is a traditional food that is eaten at weddings and other religious events. Basically, you get a big palm leave that’s about six times the size of your hand and put a big spoonful of rice in the middle. Then, you get seven smaller servings of curry around the edge of the rice. My favorite is the pumpkin or the potato and channa, but there is usually eggplant, red bean, eddo, and various other types of vegetable curries. It is seriously the most delicious thing ever, even if you don’t like curry. Plus you have to eat it with your hands, taking a little bit of rice and mixing it with the curry. So good and so much fun (and the reason you sit through a 3 hour wedding ceremony done only in Hindi lol). The reception afterwards is pretty similar to an American wedding, lots of music and dancing and some more food. The stuff on Sunday is a little more low key, you’ve still got music and dancing but for significantly less time than on Saturday. Also, on Sunday you’re allowed to eat meat again (Hindu tradition says no meat for the week before the wedding and on the wedding day itself) so we got to slaughter 3 sheep for some mutton curry. And when I say slaughter I literally mean they killed the sheep about a foot from where we ate it. It was pretty delicious, I have to say :)

Overall, it was an interesting and fun experience. Getting to see a different wedding tradition was really cool and, when you add in the delicious food, it was definitely a great weekend :)