Sikh Wedding Haldi Ceremony
With how expensive a multi-day Sikh wedding can get, I rarely get a couple that books me for the haldi ceremony. Personally, I recommend it. It is such a fun colourful event. And in this case, I got to enjoy this Sikh Wedding Haldi Ceremony without the stress of shooting their actual wedding day.
There are a lot of pre-events when it comes to a Southasian Wedding. The haldi ceremony is often the most casual since it can get a bit messy. For this groom, it was down to throwaway jeans. The event was at the National Banquet Hall. However you would never guess its small size considering how well they decorated it for the event.
Maiyan
A Mayian Ceremony consists of friends and family rubbing a turmeric paste on the bride and groom. The traditional meaning of Maiyan is to cleanse the skin and create a glow. Traditionally this ceremony involves “cleaning” the bride and groom in preparation for their wedding day. The bride and groom are not to shower after this ceremony. And normally, they would not leave the house or see each other. In this case, the bride unfortunately had to work so the groom got twice as messy.
Once the groom left, the rest of the guests partied on with a Jago. A Jago is simply a fun filled night of dancing between two families. Jago ceremony meaning is “staying awake”. The Jago ritual involves the relatives of the groom and bride, in their respective abodes, to stay up all night. The idea is to celebrate the wedding and make merry by dancing and partying. The aunt of the bride and groom takes an earthen pot filled with candles, places it on her head and dances. The pot is further passed on to other merrymakers as well.