A Beautiful Christian Wedding Of Kerala

By Author: Ankush Singhal
Total Articles: 173
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Kerala- the land of meandering backwaters, appam and Idiyappam, and of course a mélange of culture attracts one and all. Visit this amazing land and you will find the different communities living together in harmony. People of all religious faith live in Kerala and influnce the culture. Hindus and Christians in Kerala have a good population ratio. When we speak of Kerala matrimony, both these communities are taken into consideration.

Christians in Kerala: The advent of Christianity in Kerala was around the turn of first century. in Kerala, there are two major groups under the Kerala Christians-the Syro-Malabars and the Roman Catholics. The Syro-Malabar Christains from Kerala traces its roots from Syria who have adopted the local flavor and culture. the other group is the common Roman Catholics.

A typical Christian Kerala Matrimony of the Syro Malabar group happens in a chapel. Unlike Christian weddings of West, you will not see dominance of the colot white here. The guests and even the bride dons colorful saris. The bride usually wears bright colour saris during her marriage ceremony. In this case, this custom ...
... is similar to a Hindu matrimonial custom of Kerala. Even Hindu brides from Kerala wear silk saris on a matrimony day. Even the Kerala matrimony bridegroom wears Indian styled sherwani. The sherwani , originally an attire of kings and royalty in India is now worn by the grooms in weddings.

In the state of Kerala, a Christian wedding is all about following the teachings of religion. It is a matter of devotion and reverence for the faith. The Christian community in Kerala believes that weddings are about bringing two families into a new relationship. It’s a decree of God’s glory that is bestowed on the couple.

The weddings rituals take place inside the Church in presence of priests. The priests dressed in their flowing robes and official headgears. Kerala matrimony rituals for Christians are long and it takes about two hours to complete the entire proceedings. The prayers and recitations are recited in English and Malayalam, the local language of the state.

Unlike the western Christian weddings where after completion of prayers, the bride and groom kiss each other. Here, the couple did not kiss and after completion of ceremony moves to the room where waits a table of food.

The wedding feast, as I may add, is something guests and family wait for. The wedding fare is lavish spread of traditional cuisine, Indian specialties, and western food. And Christian weddings in Kerala serve wine to its guests. Wine or alcoholic beverages are not served in Hindu matrimonial functions of Kerala. Menu includes chicken, mushroom in cream sauce, Biriyani etc. Ofcourse there is the wedding cake too. A unique thing about the Christian matrimony in Kerala is that men and women eat separately and there is silence during the feast.

Summing up it can be said, whatever the place of practice, whether it is Kerala or other western countries, the idea is to perform the rituals with complete devotion.