Exploring the Tamil Nadu Wedding Culture!

Tamilians take great pride in showcasing their age-old customs and traditions. A Tamil wedding is a classic example of gala of meaningful rituals. Unlike the many other wedding cultures, Tamilians have their weddings a little differently than the rest.

Their liking for royalty and heritage is what makes them stand out. Scroll down to read more about the Tamil culture!

Matching the horoscopes is treated with utmost importance in the Tamil culture. This is indeed the first step into a Tamil wedding.

Once the marriage is fixed, the two families visit a temple and perform a puja to seek blessings from the Almighty.

On the day before the wedding, the groom performs a puja called Vrutham where he renounces his bachelorhood, and takes a step into the married life. It is performed during the early mornings of the day.

Nandi Shraddham is another ritual, which is performed after Vrutham wherein the groom along with his close family arrive at the wedding venue. The bride’s mother welcomes the groom with a garland and some sweets and a tika on the forehead made of sandalwood paste. After the puja, ten Brahmins are invited to take part in a ritual that involves departing the ancestors of both the families.

Nischayatram is a formal engagement ceremony that takes place at the bride’s house. The groom and his family arrive bearing presents and a Saree for the bride. After the puja, the bride and groom change into new clothes, and exchange rings.

The wedding day starts off at dawn, the bride and the groom are applied a paste of turmeric and sandalwood at their respective residencies by the older women of the families, after which they take the holy bath called Mangalsnanam.

Tamilians take great pride in showcasing their age-old customs and traditions. A Tamil wedding is a classic example of gala of meaningful rituals. Unlike the many other wedding cultures, Tamilians have their weddings a little differently than the rest.

Their liking for royalty and heritage is what makes them stand out. Scroll down to read more about the Tamil culture!

Matching the horoscopes is treated with utmost importance in the Tamil culture. This is indeed the first step into a Tamil wedding.

Once the marriage is fixed, the two families visit a temple and perform a puja to seek blessings from the Almighty.

On the day before the wedding, the groom performs a puja called Vrutham where he renounces his bachelorhood, and takes a step into the married life. It is performed during the early mornings of the day.

Nandi Shraddham is another ritual, which is performed after Vrutham wherein the groom along with his close family arrive at the wedding venue. The bride’s mother welcomes the groom with a garland and some sweets and a tika on the forehead made of sandalwood paste. After the puja, ten Brahmins are invited to take part in a ritual that involves departing the ancestors of both the families.

Nischayatram is a formal engagement ceremony that takes place at the bride’s house. The groom and his family arrive bearing presents and a Saree for the bride. After the puja, the bride and groom change into new clothes, and exchange rings.

The wedding day starts off at dawn, the bride and the groom are applied a paste of turmeric and sandalwood at their respective residencies by the older women of the families, after which they take the holy bath called Mangalsnanam.

Source: indiatimes.com

Gauri Puja – On the day of the wedding, Gauri Puja is performed by the bride after her Mangalsnanam to seek blessings for a happy married life.

Source: releasemyad.com

After performing the Gauri Puja, the bride and the groom head to the wedding venue. The groom is welcomed by the bride’s mother. The bride’s parents wash the groom’s feet with holy water, milk, kumkum and sandalwood. This is known as PadaPuja.

The bride is then brought to the mandap. The couple garland each other and perform further pujas.

One of the essential rituals of a Tamil wedding is the Oonjal. Oonjal is a swing decorated with flowers. The bride and the groom gently swing on the Oonjal while a few married women of the families go around them clockwise and anti clockwise singing Oonjal Pattu songs, and feed the couple banana and milk one by one. The swing of the Oonjal represent the turbulences that life may bring to the couple.

Courtesy: Lightstory.in

Kanyadanam is the next step when the couple is asked to step off the swing. The father then formally hands over his daughter’s hand to the groom.

The couple then goes around the holy fire about 7 times and exchange 7 sacred vows of marriage.

Source: style2designer.com

Lets now take a look at the traditional wedding attires of the bride and the groom.

The Tamilian bride is an epitome of beauty and elegance on her big day! She wears a stunning Kanjeevaram saree in bright colors and some very pretty jewelry to go with.

Source: Tanishq Jewelry

The Tamilian groom wears a Pattu Veshti and Angavastram. The Veshti is worn either as a dhoti or like a normal lungi drape.

Courtesy: The Wedding Salad

With these traditional attires, Tamilians are known widely for their love of gold. Most of their ornaments are made of gold, and some of the important ones are:

Kasumala – A long necklace of gold coins with the motif of Goddess Lakshmi on them.

Source: Madhurya.com

Vaddanam – Vaddanam is a gold waist belt that is one of the most important ornaments a Tamil bride wears.

Source: Pinterest

Jadanagam – It’s a long gold ornament that the bride wears in her hair.

Source: pellipoolajada.com

And if you wish to have a wedding in the state of Tamil Nadu, here are some of the best hotels you could opt for!

Hilton, Chennai

Source: Hilton

The Leela Palace, Chennai

Source: booking.com

Park Hyatt, Chennai

Source: wisont.wordpress.com

We hope you liked reading about the elaborate culture of the wonderful Tamil Nadu. Do drop in your comments and suggestions for more!

xoxo

Sakshi Kore

Team TWE