Sumi & Fraser part 2 – the Hindu ceremony

Sumi & Fraser’s Hindu ceremony took place in the Bearsden town hall and it was the most beautiful wedding ceremony I ever had the pleasure to photograph. The priest was brilliant and explained to us all in English what the significant steps of the ceremony where.

Hindu wedding ceremonies take place under a canopy known as a mandap. The sacred fire in the mandap symbolises not only the illumination of the mind, knowledge and happiness but is also a clean and pure witness to the ceremony as it progresses. The ceremony itself is a collection of rituals performed by the bride, bridegroom and their respective parents and close relatives. The priest chants “mantras” from the Vedas that were originally written in Sanskrit. He will also use the following in his ceremonies:

Fresh flowers – to signify beauty;
Coconut – to signify fertility;
Rice, jaggery and other grains – to signify the food necessary for sustenance of human life;
Ghee (purified butter) – to feed the sacred fire;
Kumkum (vermilion) – red powder used for marking the forehead to signify good luck and to say that your soul (husband) is with you.

Part 3 coming soon!