Tamil Wedding Ceremony

      Tamil marriages are not very showy and extravagant as Tamilans believe in simple living. Tamil people are very particular about their customs and traditions. However, Tamil weddings are attended by distant relatives and friends and hence are held on a large scale. The rituals that are performed before the wedding, during the wedding & after the wedding grand and unique. Tamil wedding are not an exception in this regards.

           Elegant and elaborate; these are the attributes that describes Tamil wedding rituals. Numerous ceremonies & customs are involved in a Tamil Marriage. These are performed with religious observatice to make sure that the soon-to-be-wed couple enter a new phase of life that is filled up with blessings from elders and best wishes from friends.

Mangala Snaanam and Kashi Yatra

    On the dawn of the wedding day, a tilak of haldi (turmeric) and Kumkum (vermilion) is applied to the bride and groom. This is followed by the bride and the groom taking the Mangala snaanam or the holy bath. After the holy bath, the groom puts up an act of pretension that he is no longer interested in playing the role of a householder and want to  go to Kashi or Varanasi. The father of the bride convinces him to shoulder his daughter's responsibility by marrying her. The groom stops and after the Kashi Yatra ritual is performed, the groom starts for wedding venue. The bride's family makes grand arrangement for receiving the groom and his family at the wedding pandal.

Exchange of Garlands and Oonjal

The couple exchange garlands thrice in wedding pandal. This ritual is marked with fun and enjoyment. After this ceremony, the bride and the groom take seats on a swing which is called Oonjal. A spoon of milk and pieces of banana are offered to the newlywed coupled by the married women of the married women in four directions to keep the evil spirits at bay.

Kanya Daanam

The bride and the groom come to the wedding pandal for the second time. The father of the bride welcomes the groom and her mother applies Kajal and Kohi to the groom's eyes. The bride's father washes the feet of his son-in-law. The bride holds a coconut in her hands. The bride and her father offer the coconut to the groom and bride's mother drops water on the coconut. With this, the Kanyadanam ritual gets completed. The groom's family presents a nine-yard saree to the bride. The bride wears the saree to perform the rituals that are going to take place following Kanya Daanam.

           The bride's father sits on a sack of paddy kept on the floor. paddy symbolizes affluence and fortune. The bride dressed up in the nine-yard saree and with a coconut is her hands enters the pandal and sit on her fathers lap .the yoke of a plough is touched to the brides forehead. this ritual is performed to wish for the couple's togetherness. the mangalsutra is tied around the bride's neck and after this the newly weds take blessings from priest and the family.A blessed yellow thread is given to the groom and he then , ties it to two knots around the brides neck . the bridis sister-in-law ties the third knot. these three knots stand for the union of mind ,body and spirit.

Sapthapadi

The couples walk around the seared fire for seven times with the groom taking the bridi's right hand in his left hand and leading the walk. The bride touches her feet to the grindstone at each time in the hope of their togetherness will be strong forever. The couple steps out of the pandal to view the pedstone.

                A traditional beverage called panaham is prepared by mixing jaggery,black pepper and cardonome in water. After the completion of the wedding rituals ,the newlyweds drink the panaham.

                      Two musical instruments ,melam nadhaswaram are played when the tamil wedding rituals are performed. They are in indispensable past of tamil  wedding ceremonies.