It’s party time! (Part 3)

This time, I’m just going to tell further about the wedding party, cause there’s a lot to tell. It’s still hot out here in Suriname, and I have the feeling that I’m going to get the flu. I’m working on something different for next time on one of my other blogs.

Me and my brothers reached the wedding party a little bit late. At the bhatwaan on the day before the wedding, I was also late and had missed the hawan part, where the pandit cites some mantras and fire offerings take place. When we reached the wedding party, the nachaniya (dancer dressed as a woman) was leaving. The nachaniya comes along with the groom’s family, friends and acquaintances together with the groom. My sister told me that he hadn’t danced that much. She had captured a picture, so I can share that one with you guys.

 The bride was just about to enter the maroh when we reached. All eyes were on the bride, and lots of people were taking pictures. She was looking very beautiful in her red wedding gharara. In Christian weddings, the traditional wedding gown color is white; in Hindu weddings it’s red. But just like not every Christian prefers getting married in white, not every Hindu bride gets married in red as well. In the past the bride would wear a saree, but now wedding gharara’s are also preferable. What the groom traditionally wears in Suriname, is a yellow jora jama over his shirt and pants. When the fire ceremony has taken place, the groom takes off his jora jama and wears his coat. The pandit (priest) wears a white dhoti and a white kurta. The bride and groom walked 7 rounds around the fire and took the wedding vows.

The fire ceremony taking place, where the baked grains are offered to the fire.

 There was a happy atmosphere; people meeting each other after a very long time and having each other lots to tell about. The kids finding lots of other kids to play and run around with. One of my little nephews pulled on my salwaar and I looked down. He was like, ‘Take a picture of my shoes, take a picture of my shoes!’ His shoes were looking pretty dirty with sand, cause he had been running around with the other kids. The battery of my dad’s camera was low, and I wanted to take some more pictures of the bride, so I told him so. Some time later while I was sitting, he walked in my direction with a big smile and naughty twinkling eyes. He looked so cute that I wanted to take him in my lap, but was afraid that he would spoil my cloths, so I took him in my arms. ‘Do you want to see me turning you into a ghost’, he said to me. There was a grin on my face and he started messing up my hair. I was like, ‘No, no, no, all the people here will run away from this party.’

Bara anyone?

This is how the people at Indian wedding parties eat their rice, roti, daal, karhi, vegetables and chutney in Suriname. They sit on long bench rows, and people come with the food to ask them if they want it.

Aubergine with potatoes anyone?

The rings were put on each others fingers and the marriage papers were signed. Me and my sister had hidden the shoes of the groom, and we got money for returning the shoes and letting the groom inside the house. That’s also part of the wedding tradition.

In one of the rooms inside the house, which is called the ‘kohbar’, the groom had to lick rice-pudding from the bride’s finger. Then it was time for the ‘who gets to catch the cuff bracelet’ game. The bride’s sister-in-law held a cuff in her hand and she would let it fall, while the bride and groom has to catch it. Sometimes they play a game of ‘who gets to find the ring’. A ring is placed in a bowl with milk, and the bride and groom has to search for it. If the bride finds the ring or catches the bracelet, the women around teases the groom that his bride will rule over him.

After this game, the couple came out of the house and sat on the special bride and groom sofa. There was a long line of people wanting to congratulate the newly wedded couple.

The bride’s bouquet.

Then it was time to cut the cake.

This is how the wedding cake looked like.

Beautiful bride and groom cake toppers.

The cake was decorated with 2 stairs meeting each other, on which yellow roses and bride and groom figurines were placed.

The tea lights were lighted around the cake.

There was another band (Face 2 Face), and they were playing romantic music while the cake was being cut. The cake was a bit too sweet, but the topping was yum. Then it was time to open the Champaign. Everyone got to taste it as well. The cake cutting and Champaign are actually Western influence. I don’t drink Champaign, so not for me.

The bride and groom then were the 1^st ones to dance and the band played a romantic Indian song. After this song everyone joined in. My cousins and nephew also took me to the dance floor, so I also danced along. I mostly don’t like dancing in public, but when there’s a family party, I do join in. The band rocked the floor.

It was almost 3’oclock when my parents wear leaving the party. I also wanted to get some sleep, so I left with my parents. My parents had to be back for the farewell at 4:30. I had slept for an hour and then left to the farewell at 5 o’clock. My younger sister was feeling very sleepy, cause she got home very late and took a nap for only a few minutes. I think my brother hadn’t slept at all. When we reached at my cousin’s, the groom & his relatives were about to have their meal in the maroh. And then it was time for the bride’s relatives to wish the bride and groom and say their farewells. Indians are kind of sensitive, so there was also a little bit of tears and crying. And no, I didn’t cry.:)

Packed sweets were ready to take along to the groom’s home.

The bride and groom left to the bride’s house in a decorated car surrounded by the smoke of fire crackers that were let off.

That’s the end of the wedding story, and I’m wishing my cousin and her husband lots of happiness for a lot of years to come!

It’s party time! (Part 2)

Hi everyone!

How have you guys been doing? I’ve been doing well. Beautiful weather out here today, he hot weather finally seems to have taken a vacation.;)

I bought an Alcatel OT-303 past Friday with the money I had received for hiding shoes of the groom and letting the groom inside the house. Dad also had given me money to do shopping for the wedding, but I didn’t need to buy anything, so I also added some of that money for my Alcatel. I have two mobile no.’s and I don’t use one of them that often, so one of my mobiles mostly stays at home. My cousin calls me on that no. to chat at night. I wasn’t able to talk with my 10 year old mobile if the charger wasn’t connected, so I really needed a new one. But because I’m mostly using it for talking with my cousin, I was searching for the cheapest mobile I could find. One of the mobile companies has lowered their prices for Mother’s day till end of the month, so I bought the 2nd cheapest mobile at the mobile store.

My old Nokia mobile.  

My new Alcatel OT-303. One of Kido’s kittens is on the wallpaper. The picture quality isn’t that good, cause it has a VGA camera and there isn’t much memory on this slow mobile. But an okay mobile for talking and texting and u can also listen to the radio.;) Kido’s kittens have become very naughty and are climbing all over the place, but I enjoy watching them.

The previous week, I had to do the cooking early in the morning, cause my brother takes his dinner along from home to his work. My mom actually had been operated on one of her eyes and she’s not allowed to bend. On Saturday, I completely forgot that it was Saturday and woke up a little bit late in the morning, and I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I’m not getting done with preparing dinner before 7 o’clock, I’ll ask bro to buy his meal outside today.’ I had already packed his bread and I still didn’t see my bro cause he was sleeping, that is when I realized that it was Saturday…haha. I actually was done with preparing the daal at 9.15; it took 3 hours before it was done, so I didn’t mind having started early with preparing dinner.

Anyways, I was about to tell you further about my cousin’s wedding.

This is the wedding card of my cousin’s wedding.

The next morning when I got at my cousin’s house, the guys from the decoration were busy working on some other decorations. Married women of the family were just about to apply haldi (curcuma longa) on the bride’s skin. Cloths get stained by the haldi, so new cloths aren’t suitable for this occasion. After the bride had been applied with haldi on her hands, arms, feet, legs and face, the bride made hand-prints with the remaining haldi mixture on a wall.

This is what the decoration guys were working on: the maroh where the traditional wedding ceremony around a fire takes place.

Then the hawankund for the fire with decorations around it was placed in the middle of the maroh.

And finally the blankets were placed, where the men (groom’s relatives) and pandit (priest) would sit. My nephew had placed the blankets this way, but it was later on changed and placed differently.

The red bench is the seat where the bride and groom sat during the traditional wedding ceremonies. It was placed in the maroh by the bride’s brother-in-law. The bench had been given a special welcome by married women before it was placed in the maroh.

The guys from the decoration worked further on the decorations for the special seat where the bride and groom would sit after the wedding ceremonies.

This is where the wedding cake would come.

The bride’s sisters also placed the gifts for the guests on a special table: scented candles.

Then it was time to help with the cooking, and we also got to taste all the yummy pastries before it would be served at night. There was ghugri, samosa, kroket and bara.

Bara being baked.

My younger sister saw my 80-year old aunt sleeping on the chair with her mouth wide open and pinched me to take a picture. I climbed on the chair next to her and took a picture. When I was off the chair, she woke up and I acted as if I was just about to take a group picture of my other aunts sitting next to her…haha. When I showed it to the others, they were all laughing. I don’t think I should be placing that naughty picture out here.:) I then enjoyed playing with one of my baby nieces, she’s cute and adorable. Then helped mom with making balls out of a meal and water paste for the welcome of the groom. Married women throw the balls in different directions when the groom arrives at the bride’s home. When my other cousin (the bride’s brother) was married, there was a white man who didn’t know about Indian marriages, and one of the balls got in his lap. He started eating it, and when I said that it isn’t for eating, he said that he wasn’t eating it…we laughed a lot about this incident afterwards.

When we reached home, my parents immediately took a shower and got ready for the wedding party. I did the dishes and after that, my elder sister asked me to take some pictures of her; she was looking pretty in her black saree. I was feeling tired and lied on my bed for 5 minutes before taking a shower and getting ready. I was wearing a salwaar which my sister had gifted me. For the bhatwaan I also was wearing a salwaar which one of my uncle’s had gifted me; so I didn’t need to buy any cloths for this occasion.

I’ll tell you about the final part of the wedding story next time.

Hugs and kisses,

Sharda

It’s party time! (Part 1)

Hope you guys had enjoyed your weekend. It was my cousin’s wedding on the 14^th of May, so I had lots of fun in the weekend. We were all very excited, cause there would be one big day in the family again. There was a lot to do before the big day. The others had done some extra shopping for the wedding. I only bought a sirbandi (head jewelry) on the Tuesday before the wedding, and then picked up two Pizza’s at Pizza Boys with the coupons that the others at home had received after shopping at a store which had an Easter shop and eat deal. We suddenly received guests at home from Holland (the bride’s sister and brother-in-law) along with the bride’s dad that day, so the pizza was a double advantage; we didn’t have to bake anything. The medium Veggie Pizza was yummier then the mini Plain Cheese Pizza.

On Wednesday mom had to make 350 Gulab Jamuns for the wedding. I had baked about 400 Gulab Jamuns. We had made a few extras for at home, but gave away more then 350 for the wedding. It was very exhausting work; my back was hurting from standing very long in front of the gas, cause you have to bake with a very low fire. They were very yum.

On Thursday there was the Mehendi night at the bride’s home. I didn’t want Henna applied on my hands, so I just stayed home and polished my nails. Someone once told me that if you apply Henna on both hands, it means that you are getting married, and I wasn’t the one getting married.:)

This is how the bride’s Henna decorated hands and feet looked   like.

I also had photographed the hands of one of my nieces.

Mom came late at night from the Mehendi night and at about 12 o’clock in the morning she started making a bouquet. It was 1 o’clock when she was done with this bouquet.

On Friday, mom woke up very early in the morning to make sew and khaja (sweets) to gift it to the bride’s mom along with some gifts and the bouquet.

Then she hurried to get ready and left with dad and my younger sister to help with the preparations for the Bhatwaan (celebration before the wedding day). I left a little bit later at 11 o’clock with my brothers to help along at the bride’s home. There was a lot to do; I had helped with decorating the tent with balloons and with preparing roti’s. The men also had helped in cutting vegetables and preparing the food.

Looking at these pumpkin pieces, I’m in a mood to make a pumpkin cake. I last had found a recipe for pumpkin cake; maybe I’ll try it out one of these days. And oh ya, wishing everyone a belated Halloween!

It’s always a good idea to have a flycatcher in your home in Suriname; the flies actually also came to party.:)

This sweet guy from the decoration also wanted to be on the picture.

This is how the light trees finally looked like.

 At the Bhatwaan party at night there was Lawa bhujayi (grain and popcorn baking), dancing and yummy food.

The band ‘Mousi and Friends’ (Aunt and Friends).

                                    

The only bad thing was that my uncle had discovered in the morning that the radio, headlights and battery of his car had been stolen. The next morning when we were leaving from the wedding party, my brother also discovered that one of the headlights from his care had been stolen. The thieves had also tried removing another headlight; it was a little bit loose when my brother checked it. The criminality in Suriname is continually increasing. Thieves don’t even spare children’s homes; I heard yesterday on the news that thieves had robbed a children’s home. Some people don’t stay late at parties nowadays, cause they’re afraid that something in/of their car might be robbed or some or afraid of leaving their home for just a few hours.

I’ll tell you about the wedding day next time. Till then, wishing you a wonderful time!