Traditional Indian Maiya and Choora ceremony

Maiya and Choora Ceremony.

I met with Karen at her home in Surrey for maiya ceremony. They started with rangoli design on the floor while waiting for other members of the family to arrive. Karen looked happy in her outfit sitting on peeri in front the family and guests. These ceremonies are playful and cheeky affairs when relatives will often mischievously apply the vatna on every available body part. They all laughed and smiled during the ceremony. The vibrant evening ended with dancing and family dinner in the tent set up behind the house. The next day I attended the ceremony for Aditya, Karen’s future husband. It was very emotional maiya ceremony with a lot of family guests.

Traditional Indian Ritual and Jago Night

A Choora is a wedding bangle worn by the bride. Traditionally, the bride’s family hold a Choora ceremony one night before the wedding day. The bride has to wear 21 colourful bangles. Karen’s uncles placed wedding bangles (Choora) on her wrist by dipping them inside a milk and water concoction first. And from that point Jago started followed by the dancing party till early morning! 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.