Engagement Ceremony
Weddings in India have lots of rituals and practices divided into pre wedding, main day and post wedding ceremonies. The Engagement Ceremony is a pre wedding ceremony and important part of wedding in India. This ceremony has great importance as it is the ceremony which starts the romantic journey of weddings. An Engagement is performed well ahead of wedding as it signifies the commitment to get married. The rituals and customs of the wedding engagement may vary from one region to other.
Engagement Ceremony
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Overview
The Engagement Ceremony is one of the pre marriage ceremonies in the Indian society. It is an important event as it marks the beginning of the wedding ceremonies. An Engagement Ceremony is usually held months before the wedding ceremony. It is known by different names in different regions of the country like misri, aashirwad, mangni or ring ceremony.
Rituals
The family members, relatives and friends of both the would-be bride and the groom meet on the day of the Engagement Ceremony. The bride and the groom are laden with gifts, jewellery and clothes from each other's family. They also receive gifts from the other guests. Often the bride's family bears the expenses of the ceremony. The groom's side also receives gifts from the bride's side for the prominent family members, like the mother father, brother and sister of the groom
The main part of the Engagement Ceremony is when the would-be bride and the groom exchange the rings. These rings are specially chosen and are made of precious metal like gold. After exchanging the rings, the would-be bride and groom take blessings from the elders of both the families and eat sweets. In many communities the would-be bride and groom also exchange garlands after the exchange of rings. After the rings are exchanged all the relatives and friends gather for the dinner party. In many a cases the date of marriage is also fixed by a 'pandit' on the day of the Engagement Ceremony. Special features
Nowadays people also have arrangements of music and dance at the Engagement Ceremony. Bands and DJs are called upon to play music and all the people present dance away the evening to tunes being played. People cut cakes to celebrate the event.
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