My school friend of 25 years, Matt, got married in Luxembourg today, so the family flew out to be a part of his Hindu wedding.
They had flown out a Hindi priest from Birmingham, not that anyone would have known how priesty he was; he was speaking in a strange language throughout the ceremony, and could quite have easily been reciting a string of dictionary entries for all we know. From his emotionless face, the slightly confused state he’d occasionally reveal when not knowing whether to sprinkle something on an orange, set fire to things and sprinkle them with something (maybe the same liquid, I don’t know), or throw rice on the bride and groom and sprinkle them, and the (undoubtedly normal to him, though disconcerting for us Hindu-tourists) dead intonation in his voice, he probably was.
Added to this, the discussions he seemed to be having with other Hindus in the congregation about what to do next (some things traverse the language barrier), plus the frequent pauses to explain to Matt and Carley how they should hold various items of fruit they were handed at various intervals, made for an interesting, sometimes comical, ceremony. I’m glad it wasn’t the three-day version or we’d have been there until Christmas.
Most of the invitees, including us, decided to dress up in traditional Hindu garb, and this, along with the superb decoration and food, made for a fantastic experience. I’m not sure how traditional a Bugs Bunny bouncy castle is, but it gave the children present plenty to occupy themselves.
We had plenty of time to catch up with some long-lost acquaintances Jo and I knew from our partying days in Luxembourg. We kept ourselves on the right side of alcohol (i.e. not too much). This enabled me to last the evening without wanting to go and lie down, and to be able to function properly the next day (where we met up with some of the previous night’s crowd, plus a few others we’d wanted to socialise with).
Considering we only spent one and a half days there we managed to see more people than I’d hoped to, but this was Matt and Carley’s weekend, so we wish you both the best of luck for the future.