Tael-Mehndi

Mehndi  or the Rasm-e-henna ceremony, takes place one or two days prior to the main wedding day. The event is traditionally held separately for the bride and the groom.The henna is symbolically placed on the couple's hands. The groom's friends and family bring along sweets and henna for the bride, and the bride's family does the same for the groom. On the bride's ceremony, the groom normally does not participate and similarly, on the groom's event the bride stays at home.

Traditionally, since there were separate functions for the bride and the groom, the groom's function was called 'Tael' (oil) where female guests apply oil into the groom's hair.Ceremonies are now held simultaneously for both the groom and the bride, the use of the term 'tael' has diminished greatly. In some cases, the entire ceremony is instead referred to as "Tael Mehndi" (Oil and Henna) ceremony.The bride normally wears a green dress or yellow  for the Henna celebration and uses only light, or mostly without  make-up. The groom  typically wear a casual Shalwar Qameez. The bride and/or the groom are brought forward in the ceremony under a decorative dupatta by their close relatives. In the bridal ceremony, a certain number of married women who are closely related to the bride apply henna to her hands, and feed her sweets. This ritual is supposed to bring good luck and longevity to the bride's married life. Similarly, on the groom's side, oil is applied to his head and sweets are fed to the groom.

Tray containing "tael"(oil), "mehndi"(henna)  & "methai"(sweets)





The groom accompanied by his father, Pakistani TV actor Jamil Fakhari.

 

The bride brought forward by close relatives.

The groom and bride

Me, preparing to apply "mehndi" during the ceremony

                My entry for this week's Ruby Tuesday.