CHUDA

North Indian Hindu wedding rituals involve the bride wearing dozens of red and cream ivory bangles adorning her wrists. These set of bangles in ivory, lac or plastic with intricate inlay work painted or engraved on it are adorned on the bride's wrist are known as "Chuda".

 

A day or two before the actual wedding an auspicious day is selected by the family priest for the "Chuda" ceremony. The bride's mama (mother's brother) gets these bangles for the bride. The set of "Chuda"is shown to the bride just before the ceremony. Everyone present during this ritual touches the bangles and offers their good wishes and blessings.

 

Wearing the "Chuda" is absolutely necessary for every Indian bride in north India. The time-period of wearing this chuda also varies from family to family but it must be worn for atleast 45 days. Some wear it even for a year.

 

Also:

 

Hindu wedding ceremonies take place before a sacred fire. The fire is lit in the center of the wedding space, the whole of which is covered by a mandap: a vividly decorated canopy. Hindus consider the wedding fire, like other fires, to be a manifestation of Agni-the fire God.

 

Almost all Hindu weddings include one or more sub-ceremony near the beginning of the wedding in which a priest lights the fire and invites Agni to witness the wedding, offering him prayers and gifts that might include grass, wood, clarified butter, and/or grains. The remainder of the wedding takes place before this sacred fire. Traditional Hindu wedding ceremonies vary greatly by region, but they are almost all tremendously intricate, and there might be several other sub-ceremonies in which the sacred fire takes the lead role in the wedding.

 

 

 

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