This weekend my husband’s cousin, Amit, will get married. Not on Saturday. This weekend. Guyanese weddings are a four-day event that starts with the maticore ceremony the night before the wedding. In their respective homes, the bride and groom are cleansed, blessed and celebrated in advance of the wedding ceremony.
On Thursday my family headed to Fresh Meadows where we joined a group of 100 people and a commanding tassa band to parade through the streets in a brilliant scene of joy and excitement.It was one of those many moments that reminded me why we moved back to New York City. Where else would you ever see such a sight? When I got married, my husband had a maticore but I, being, well, white, spent the night more quietly with a barbecue in a backyard that gave me the chance to spend some time with people who traveled from out of town for the wedding. Two different experiences leading up to the same outcome. That defines so much about my marriage.
If you click on the photos it’ll open up to a slideshow. Enjoy! Tonight is the wedding so I hope to have more pictures to share tomorrow. Good luck Kim and Amit!
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- To start, a tassa drum band leads all the women in the family to the spot where the maticore ceremony will be performed. In this case, we walked about four blocks from the groom’s home to his uncle’s house. These two families are so deeply intertwined that it was beautiful to see the ceremony shared in this way.
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- I hope no babies were sleeping because this band is LOUD!
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- The mother of the groom prepares the offerings that will bring blessings to her son’s marriage.
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- I’m not sure what the nut is (feel free to comment and correct below) but I know that’s turmeric and there’s also rice and flowers.
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- After the offerings are done, a red paste is made to give all the married women a big, bullseye-shaped red bindi on their foreheads. I should have taken a picture of mine but I didn’t think of it.
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- Shhh… if you know the right miscreants you can do a shot in celebration. I know many miscreants. There was also much methai passed around, the Indian version of sweet fried dough. Drinks and dessert — West Indian culture has it all!
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- After the ceremony the tassa band starts up again. Joyce (center), the mother of the groom, joins the women in dancing in the streets.
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- The parade of women and drums makes its way back to the groom’s home…
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- … where we are met by the men and more dancing in the streets.
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- Once inside, the second religious ceremony begins, a pooja to prepare the groom for his big day. Here, Joyce leads the way with the groom, Amit, behind her.
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- A (rather long) ceremony commences during which more offerings are made, songs sung and prayers said. For reasons I’ll never quite get, there always seems to be an old man in a stocking cap.
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- And now the fun part… Amit is covered in a henna paste to “cleanse” him for his upcoming nuptials.
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- Thumbs up! He feels pure.
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- While the dye is rubbed the women get mehndi drawn on their hands.
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- My daughter Mira got her first mehndi tonight. Beautiful job!