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Weddings are celebrated with great fervor all over India, specially so in West Bengal. It reflects all the colors overlaying the basic religious rites. Bengal being a coastal region, sea products play an important part in all religious ceremonies. This explains the presence of fish, shells and corals in Hindu weddings of Bengal. Bengali Hindu weddings are always conducted in the evening at the house of the bride, in the presence of a priest. The wedding itself is an elaborate sequence of fun-filled, colorful but significant rituals, ranging from the tying of the nuptial knot to the blowing of conch shells and the ululation of the gathered women. Vedic scriptures, combined with regional rituals make the Bengali wedding an event-par-excellence.
In Bengal dressing up the bride is a ritual in itself. This particular Bengali bridal doll adorns herself in all her bridal finery. The costume shown here depicts a typical Bengali bride on the day of "Bou Bhaat" - a post-wedding ceremony, which takes place two days after the night of wedding. The "Bou Bhaat" is symbolic of the bride's desire to serve her new family and the same is displayed by the girl by cooking rice and serving it with ghee (butter) to all the elders of her new family. This is her first occasion of a meal in her new home, since before this day, her meals arrive from a neighbor's house. The ceremony is usually followed by a banquet in the evening, hosted by the groom's parents, which is when the bride is adorned with flowers and gold ornaments. This beautiful trousseau is depicted in this bridal doll.
The bridal doll wears a red silk sari with a green and golden zari (golden thread) border and small zari flowers and sequins with a matching blouse. Her hair is tied into a bun and covered with a red chiffon veil with golden zari border and sequins. The mukut (headgear) is made of flowers and is placed on her head and secured in place by pinning it to the veil. The bride's forehead is marked by artistically designed patterns with fabric paint, which for a real bride is replaced by chandan (sandalwood) paste.
The decor of the hair is done by Sinthi (A chain tucked at the center of head with a small piece flower hanging at the forehead) and Tiara (an ornament that lines along the hair line and falls on the forehead). It has three strings, the central one hangs from between and other two are tucked near the ear. The ornaments that covers the back hair bun is "Bagan". It is a central piece of ornament in a shape of flower with several strings with small hanging decor along the string. The end of each string has a hook with which it is tucked in the hair. Thus the strings form a larger circumference around the central piece and covers the back of the hair. As it is a combination of large and small gold flowers it resembles a garden and hence the name Bagan (bengali for "garden").
She wears Jhumko (canopy kind hanging earrings) in her ear and nose ring with long chain that is to hook in the hair near the ear in her nose. Small decorative pieces can hang along the chain or on the lower part of the ring. Around her neck gold color chains are worn. Some of them are as following:
Tinnari ( necklaces with three chains)
Choker ( this fits along the throat line and the thickness is such that it covers the throat)
Mop Chain (it is the longest amongst the chains worn, some times "mopchain" is folded into double and worn).
In her hand she wears Noa (an iron bangle covered with golden material), Shankha (made of conch shell), Pala ( made of plastic ). Noa, Shankha and Pala are the traditional marriage symbols for a Bengali woman.
Noa, which is given by groom to the bride, signifies that this relationship assumes the qualities of iron, i.e. to be tough and enduring. Pala made of real coral bangles are too expensive, they have been substituted today with red plastic or lac bangles. The coral is supposed to be beneficial for health. Shankha or the conch shell bangles are supposed to mirror the qualities of the moon, thereby implying that the girl remain serene and calm. The bride wears Churi (thin bangles), Bauti (thicker than churi with embossed design) in her hand. Ornaments that connects bangles with the finger rings by thin chain is called Ratan Chur. Finger rings are called Angti. She wears Pachri (waistband) in her waist. She also wears flowers in her hands and arms. She wears a garland of flowers. Sindoor (vermillion) is applied on the Sinthi (center parting of hair). The red colour of the Sindoor implies passion, fertility and strength. |
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| I want to thank you very much for everything, all 3 posters arrived ok and I'm very pleased with them
Keep up the good work!!! |
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| Romulo |
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