Culture for Service

Okay, so I know it has been a while, and there are many things I want to blog about, but I have to start with our morning today. We were at the traditional Indian wedding of our friends, Gaurav and Seema. (We went to Goshen with Gaurav.) What an awesome experience. Of course we did not know what to expect from one minute to the next. I texted dad soon after we got there to describe what was going on, and he texted back, "Culture for Service." (For those of you who don't know, that is Goshen College's motto.)

When we arrived just before 10AM (the start time according to the invitation) there were round tables set up and an ornate alter of sorts. People were eating, but since we didn't really know what was going on, we sort of stood off to the side. There weren't many people there. Around 10:45 everyone went down the escalator and outside to greet the goom, who arrived about 15 minutes later by horse and carriage. Many of his friends were gathered around them and they slowly made their way, dancing to Indian music, across a large cement area in front of the main doors. The rest of us were up by the building. Slowly but surely they kept coming toward us, and and our group went to meet them until we were all standing in the middle together dancing.

Eventually we made it inside and upstairs again - after several rituals just inside the door (including Gaurav and Seema being lifted up so Seema could put a wreath around his neck, Gaurav being sprinkled with water, and Gaurav's shoes being stolen). Once upstairs the ceremony began and for the next hour and a half we really didn't know what was happening up at the alter. It seems there were many rituals taking place, but we couldn't really follow it. Everyone else was sitting at the round tables again, chatting throughout the entire thing. Evidently the ceremony usually takes 3 hours, so I guess you can't expect people to sit quietly the entire time. At one point someone came around and told us lunch was ready and that we should help ourselves (all while the ceremony continued). All of a sudden we heard someone announcing Gaurav and Seema, so we figured it was over. They took some pictures and we left soon after.

Seth was quite limited with how close he could get, but hopefully these will give you a bit of a taste of what it was like.

We are now home until the reception tonight at 7PM. It sounds like that is going to just be one big party. Evidently typically the families of the bride and groom have sort of a dance off. But since Gaurav's family isn't very big (Seema's is probably 4 times as big) I guess that may not happen. So we'll see!

P.S. My dad is here with Norah all day.