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Marriage/About Namdhari MarriagesNamdhari
Sikhs, and the particular branch of Sikhs they belong to wear all white clothes
and turbans. They are pure vegetarians (no eggs), and do not drink coffee, tea,
soda, or alcohol. Their headquarters is at Sri Bhaini Sahib, which is 25
kilometers southeast of A very special & auspicious day that
deserves to be celebrated. So at sunrise, several couples will be getting
married in Sri Bhaini Sahib. A special
pavilion was assembled for the wedding ceremony. It is small and cozy, and it
has enough room to hold 10,000 people. Up front on the stage, the guru of the
group sits under a little pavilion, and a Kirtan salok is playing on the right
hand side. The
wedding ceremony is scheduled for early morning before sunrise. The number of
couples getting married depends on how many groups get both parties here,
though. There are still some brides waiting on the side, and some grooms
without anybody next to them, but its still early. The
People have been sitting on a sheet on the ground under the pavilion since The groom
sits down first, cross-legged. He bows his head in the direction of the guru
(from their position, the guru is hidden behind a screen, but can see around
the screen, and see the guru either meditating or praying with his head down).
An attendant ties a silk harness around the grooms chest and waist. Then the
groom waits for the bride. When the
bride comes to the waiting groom, she puts a new set of prayer beads (theyre
made from wool – 108 beads in all) around his neck, bows to him, and touches
his feet. This foot thing is a sign of respect. A priest comes by, chants
something in the grooms right ear, then his left. He repeats this with the
bride, and moves on to another couple. The bride and groom remain sitting
cross-legged, facing forward, and not communicating. Their job is to meditate
and reflect on spiritual things. Some do their job well; others look like
theyre dozing. An
attendant and priest come by with amrit (holy water), and the groom takes
several sips of the amrit that is dribbled into his hands. The priest sprinkles
the grooms head with the amrit, chanting, and then flicks some more amrit onto
the grooms forehead. The groom waits until the priest moves on, and then wipes
his face on his sleeve. The attendant pours some water onto the grooms hands
to rinse them off. This procedure is repeated for the bride. In the
meantime, on the stage there is a Kirtan salok, and the guru is still under his
pavilion. Theres a whole lot of Kirtan salok and chanting going on. Many men
are walking in a procession around the right side of the pavilion, and many
women are on the left.There is a fire burning in front of the couples with a
man spooning ghee onto it every few seconds - during the ceremony, the couples
will circle the flames, as the fire bears witness to the marriage.The couples
are in a big circle around the fire & couples are walking counter clockwise
around the fire, and they make four loops. They sit back down, and the people
up front chant mantras from the holy books. At the end of each mantra, the
crowd joins in for the last couple of phrases – either they are well known
mantras, or the last verse is repeated. They are in line to get close to the
stage to say a prayer in front of the guru. Up front
the Kirtan are still playing, and the screen is down so everybody can see the
guru. After the "Ardas" satguru has left the stage, and some others
are arranging another podium. Then everybody shouts "Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat
Sri Akal!", and all stand up to see the "Guru Granth Sahib"
(holy book). They are placed in the new podium. know that
these people are all getting married?" |