Kurmai Engagement Chunni Veil and Vatna Ceremony In Sikh Marriage
Indian weddings are celebrated with great zest and enthusiasm. One such type of big fat Indian weddings is that of the Sikh community. For Sikhs, wedding is not just a legal alliance of two people, it is a holy and harmonious union of two souls and hence no stone is left unturned to make it larger than life. Their weddings are high on energy and vigour. The Sikh wedding customs and rituals are more or less similar to Hindu wedding customs. Although one major difference lies that while Hindus use Vedic texts, the Sikhs use their holy book, Adi Grantha (also called Guru Granth Sahib).
Like most of the Asian weddings, a formal commitment begins before the marriage. This marks the beginning of the whole celebration. Shagun or Kurmai is generally performed a week prior to the Sikh wedding at groom’s home or in Gurdwara. Now-a-days, these ceremonies are also held at banquet halls or hotels. An engagement ceremony performed in the Gurdwara includes Langar (traditional meal), Kirtan (chants from Sri Guru Granth Sahib) and Ardas (Sikh prayer) in a reverse order, and it is followed by an exchange of gifts between the bride and the groom’s families and mutual vows of wedding. The groom and the bride then exchange the rings.
In case it is performed at the Groom’s house, the bride’s family visits his house with gifts such as sweets, dry fruits, jewellery and clothes. The bride's father or guardian presents the boy with a Kada (Gents Bangle), a gold ring, and gold mohre (coins). Later on, these are strung into a thread of black colour and given to the bride. The bride wears it around her neck and it is similar to the mangalsutra worn by the Hindu brides. The only difference is that Sikh brides wear it only on the special occasions, unlike the Hindu brides who wear it on a daily basis.
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