I've always loved and appreciated my culture for many things. It makes me be unique and be myself for my culture. Out of the many things that make me love my culture, it is the wedding ceremonies, the dresses, and the little things that make the culture even better. Over Thanksgiving break, my cousin from Canada got married and of course, I went. The week was filled with many events almost every day. They had their engagement on Sunday which a couple of days before I went there. But I didn't miss much. This whole article is to my culture, my journey to Canada, and how awesome Indian/Punjabi weddings are.
Crossing the border, pretty scary moment.
Rumnik Ghuman
This was a really scary moment since the border police are very harsh and can be very rude. This was haunting me because a full Indian family was going to Canada for a week-long wedding and I guess that's not normal. But I was really calm as the view before the border was so beautiful. The Ambassadors Bridge is pretty old, but its gorgeous with all of the water beneath it and being able to see the city of Detriot just from the bridge was amazing.
Henna or Mehndi, you choose what to call it!
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According to Difference Between, Henna or Mehndi is a plant, a dye, and a tattoo. In Indian weddings, we apply Mehndi on the bride and all the girls from both sides for the celebration of the wedding. You leave the Mehndi on until it is Punjabi and it starts falling off. You can apply a mixture of lime and sugar to have a darker color the next day. But the number 1 rule in order to get really dark mehndi is to not wash your hands with water, no water for the whole day. The next day you can use all the water you want but not the day of the mehndi is applied to you.
Jaggo: a tradition Ceremony in a Punjabi Wedding
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Jaggo is a traditional ceremony at a Punjabi wedding. This a ceremony where the whole family goes around in the village if this was in India. We carry a basket or more a jug on our head and we rotate this jug with many of family members head. We dance all night, this ceremony does happen at night.
Rangoli, colored powder used to make a design.
Rumnik Ghuman
Rangoli is a tradition where you make a design with these colored powders and this piece of art is going to be in front of the groom or bride at the ceremony Meya. This is when we put a mixture of turmeric and flour on the groom and bride. Apparently, the mixture makes the grooms and bride skin glow and brightens up as turmeric is very healthy for your skin.
Fooooood, sweeeeets, and getting faaaaaaat!
Rumnik Ghuman
The food is probably the third or second reason why I go to weddings because there's so much to eat like its pretty amazing. At the wedding house, there was a whole section of the kitchen that was dedicated to sweets so whenever you would go into the kitchen you were for sure tempted to eat something, which was not good for my weight. But I ignored my weight and eat everything and enjoyed every bit of it. Canada has the best service for Indian food like my mom makes amazing Indian food, but Canada was amazing, it wasn't too spicy nor too sweet it was a perfect taste.
Dressing up, the second best thing about wedding!
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Dressing up is my favorite thing do to. It just makes me happy and feel better. I love my culture's dresses as they are so beautiful. Most people will not agree with me but I always get simple Indian dresses so my suits are so comfortable and I feel better. I'm a very simple person, I don't even wear makeup because it's not me and I just don't feel myself. I do wear jewelry which is rings, earrings, and bracelets, that's it. Simplicity is the key to life, not too extra, but not basic.
Lava: the actual wedding ceremony at the Gurudwara
Rumnik Ghuman
The actual wedding day and ceremony takes place at the temple or gurudwara. This is where the groom and bride take 4 lava where the groom followed by the bride walk around the Holy book of Sikhism and make a promise to protect, support, love, and respect each other. This can be very emotional as the bride's parents are giving their daughter away as this is a tradition. But this officially is the wedding. I'm actually shocked that it didn't really snow a lot and the weather was great the whole week, but it did rain the day of the wedding and I've heard that this is actually a good sign and that the marriage will last forever.
Family time, of course!
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Out of all of the events, the most fun moment was to see my cousins after 6 years! This was a great time to catch up and they realize that I actually go to college now, not high school. I can't explain how many of times they ask so what class are you in now? I am the youngest from both side of the family, from my mom and dad's, but that doesn't mean I'm the baby.
Dancing is my number one favorite thing to do.
Rumnik Ghuman
This is the most blurry picture because I had to screenshot this from a video to express my love for dance. The final celebration moment was the reception, this is where we danced all the way to 1 am. We weren't even tired, it was the best time. As the USA people were the last ones to leave the dance floor, which shows Punjabi Americans really love to party.
The car drive back home.....
Rumnik Ghuman
The drive back home was the longest. I don't know why but it was not fun and we really didn't want to leave the happy atmosphere. I know I went to a wedding, but every time I go out of state, I tend to realize how much I love seeing new places, meeting new people, and experience the different cultures. When I came back, I was motivated to reach my dream job which allows me to travel the world and experience the multiple cultures of this world. There's a lot to see in this world and I only have one life to see it.
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