Zuleha Engagement @ 27.03.2009
Engagement Ceremony - Marriage is regarded as the most important social event in our culture. The concept of marriage can be traced back to Vedic times. Mostly Hindu marriage ceremonies are elaborate one and they lasts for days or even weeks. Although the main wedding ceremony is a one-day affair but there are different ceremonies that are held on separate days preceding the main wedding ceremony. According to Hindu religion out of sixteen ceremonies in a person’s lifetime marriage is considered to be the thirteenth one. In our Indian society we mostly have arranged marriages where the parents of both the girl and boy decides about the wedding. They only decide whom to marry. Once they choose the girl and boy they were allowed to meet and see other. Once they like each other the date of the engagement and marriage is decided. There are various pre wedding functions and rituals out of which engagement ceremony is the most important since it marks the beginning of the wedding ceremony. Months before the wedding an engagement ceremony is conducted. It is known by different names in different regions of the country. On the day of the engagement the family members, friends and relatives of both the groom and bride’s meets. They meet to bless the couple and wish them a happily married life. The would-be bride and groom are given gifts of jewelry and clothes by their new family. The engagement or the ring ceremony is held to exchange the gold wedding rings. The couple after exchanging their ring they offer sweets welcome each other with garlands. Than sweets and good wishes are exchanged between the two families. Than all the guests gathers for the dinner party where the family and friends have dinner and enjoy. Trays of gifts are offered to both the families. Engagement is an important wedding celebration and it holds a lot of significance in the Indian wedding traditions.
But I had a chance to see a different type engagement ceremony, of Indian Muslim , my colleague. Zuleha with her lovely hubby Rashid. 27.03.2009 -Friday is the day they choosed for their special event that’s their Engagement ceremony @ Adat Pertunangan. I notice she was very worried bout the preparation for her day , Hantaran , Decoration , Inai , the costume and such on. This makes me wonder ,what would I do ,when its my turn :-O ... .Finally she manage to settle all this before her engagement day, as usual her Mehendi booking goes to me ...I met her in brickfield on Thursday night, so we went for last minute shopping in Pasar Malam to buy some fruits for the hantaran, huh couldn’t belief it , its cost her nearly RM80.
Then we need rush to her mum house in Puchong Kinrara, since they held some prayer for her, hmmm so nice environment, when I could see all her cousin, sis & uncle gather together for the prayer. And also the little cuties running here and there, they are very cute. After the prayer end , they have dinner together, the food look delicious ,but only me unable to eat, its Beef Briyani, trust me, they smell damn good. Once the prayer done, she was given fresh Jasmine flower as the sign of prayer. Its something new for me. Then we rush back to Brickfield to her apartment , to start apply the mehendi. End up she choose something very very simple pattern .I’m not satisfied with the pattern at all , I felt it extremely simple pattern ,but she wanted that and she was happy with it.
Then we need rush to her mum house in Puchong Kinrara, since they held some prayer for her, hmmm so nice environment, when I could see all her cousin, sis & uncle gather together for the prayer. And also the little cuties running here and there, they are very cute. After the prayer end , they have dinner together, the food look delicious ,but only me unable to eat, its Beef Briyani, trust me, they smell damn good. Once the prayer done, she was given fresh Jasmine flower as the sign of prayer. Its something new for me. Then we rush back to Brickfield to her apartment , to start apply the mehendi. End up she choose something very very simple pattern .I’m not satisfied with the pattern at all , I felt it extremely simple pattern ,but she wanted that and she was happy with it.
Friday 27.03.09 , Zuleha engagement starts at 7.30pm and its 6.30pm & I’m still stuck in office, and I’m pretty sure tak sempat rush to my fren place for shower. So end up ,I take shower in my office and dress change in mothering room .Out from office ,huh jam like hell and its heavy rainy , I stuck in Kerinchi highway almost 45 min to reach Federal
. End up I reach Zuleha house at 8.30 and guess wat !!! I’m fight on time, the guys are walking in with the "Hantaran" , so what else I also just follow them in, heheheheh...The ceremony started at 8.30pm with some prayers, and we all in the Pengantin room , and she really look so sweet and pretty on her sparkling red Lenga suit. And usually the bridegroom will look nervous and shy, but she as usual, making hu ha, hahahah (opsss) its her day rite.. Than once they finish the prayer, Rashid sister came in with "Engagement Ring" and she put it to Bridegroom finger, different from Hindu as the bride’s will exchange the ring . And that’s it , the engagement is complete, wow tats really super fast rite .
Then its interesting part , dinner time, huh my stomach dont enough to eat all the food , the menu of the day is Briyani rice, Kurma curry , Chicken Masak Merah, Mutton Varuval, Beef Rendang, Tiger Prawn Sambal, “Putu Mayam”, Cabbage, Tauhu Sambal, Mix Vege , Papadam , “Payasam” (Indian sweet milk ), Coconut Jelly, Fruits, Orange Juice , Tea and Coffea…. Hmmmm really delicious food rite.Than around 10.30 the Bride family members are leaving, and another adapt ,they called “Tukar hantaran” ,the bridegroom gives the guy 7 “Dulang hantaran” nicely decorated with Sparkling red ribbon and red roses ,for return the Bride gives the her 5 “Dulang Hantaran” with cheeky green color. And we get free food and also a very nice door gift filled with “Laddu”(Indian sweet). That’s nice ceremonies held and wish these couple blessed with happiness shower for the rest of their life.
Princess of the day "Zuleha "
This is special decoration for the engagement ring
A part of the "Hantaran"
This is so called " Hantaran "
It look like everyone waiting for dinner time
A part of the dinner
Its Uma & Hani trying to give nice pose, i guessss
Nice cake rite, its by Iswary ,hmmm it look delicious
Its Zuleha, trying to show us her 10 cents face, tired face.
Time to go back , Phillip Morris gang pack up to leave
We never go back with empty hand, look its door gift.
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