A Cultural Affair - A Hindu-Quaker Wedding

Sunday night we all headed to Seema and Tim's wedding. None of us were quite sure what to expect. Seema is Hindu and Tim is Quaker, so we weren't quite sure how the evening's ceremonies would blend the two cultures. In the end, everyone attending the wedding learned something about another culture - and thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

The wedding and reception were held at the Fruitlands Museum, a failed transcendentalist community turned museum with a gorgeous view of the Massachusetts countryside and bright-colored leaves. The ceremonies began with a meeting of the two families on the lawn, called the "Baraat" in a traditional Hindu weddings, but tailored to this bride and groom because the Groom's family marched in to the sounds of a fiddle and banjo!

Several short cermonies followed, involving the exchanging of garlands by the bride and groom and the exchange of recitations by family and friends:

Following this, we headed upstairs to the Mandap, where the marriage ceremony would be held. It was beautiful - held at sunset overlooking the gorgeous view. The ceremony was administered by the pandit in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. However, as many of us had never been to a Hindu wedding, he paused to give explanation of each part of the ritual cermony - very interesting. Here is a picture of the mandap:
After the bride and groom were officially married, we experienced a quaker tradition, the signing of the marriage contract - all who were there to witness the wedding sign the contract, which will hang in the bride and groom's home. Here is the groom's father signing the contract:

And the happy couple:

From there, the party got started. Much to Tommy's dismay, the meal was all vegetarian, a mix of Indian dishes and traditional Massachusetts dishes like butternut squash soup and apple crisp - I thought it was delicious! There was plenty of dancing - from the Indian Bhangra to Contradance, complete with a stringband and caller to lead the dances. Katy was honored to be the only one of the bride's friends to give a speech - a wonderful one that even made Seema cry. Evan was a little tired and fussy by the time we left at 10:30 for the 3 hour drive back to Stamford, but everyone had a wonderful night!

It was such a pleasure to have Katy and Ian here, even if it was only briefly. Mom and Dad are here until Monday - stay tuned for more entries about our upcoming adventures in New York and Connecticut!