Monday, June 25, 2018

IT'S A WEDDING!


Congratulations to Samantha and Vimani!
They had a traditional Sinhala-Buddhist marriage ceremony known as the poruwa siritha or poruwa ceremony.


The poruwa is a decorated wooden platform that represents the house that the couple will share and is symbolic  of their marriage and the start of a new life.


The shilpadhipathi (master of ceremonies) recites religious chants known as ashtaka. The four girls (Jayamangala Gatha) bless the marriage with a traditional Buddhist chant.

 

The ceremony begins with the groom and his family.


 

The Kandyan Dancers and drummers escort the groom to the poruwa.

 

The bride is then greeted and brought to the poruwa. The bride and groom greet each other with palms held together.


The bride and groom stand next to each other.  The Master of Ceremonies presents a collection of betel leaves to them. They accept the leaves and give them back to him. They are symbolic offerings to the gods.
They are then presented with seven leaves on a tray with a coin on each leaf. The bride and groom take turns picking up the leaves and dropping it on the platform. The seven leaves is to remember seven generations on both sides.


The groom is presenting a white cloth to his bride. She then gives it to her mother. This is the groom gift of gratitude to his mother-in-law for raising his bride.


Just like wedding cake they feed each other milk rice, which is a special treat. Then the bride's mother gives them each a sip of milk.
This symbolises the start of the bride's and grooms new life. As children it was their mothers who fed them and gave them milk to drink. They will be starting their own life with the blessing of their mothers.


At every special gathering in Sri Lanka they light the lantern.

 

Enjoying a fresh glass of juice.

 

The reception area at the Riverdale Hotel.


Vimanis's family.


❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

 

Kids are the same all over the world.
 
 

One of the drummers and their head dress.

 

Goodies and the wedding cake.


Cute shoes!


Typical teenagers!

 

Lunch buffet and dessert.


Bridesmaids.


A new friend, Sri Kanthie.


Posing with the girls.


Eating sweets!


The cute couple.


Some of the Kandyan dancers.

 

More sweets and entrance to the hotel.


An interesting fact about the bride and groom are they are both deaf. Many of their friends are deaf so we saw a lot of sign language. Their friends came in on a bus together. It was great to see the love and support that they had as they start their marriage.
WHAT A FUN DAY!









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