Darling's cousin got married yesterday. While we were trying to get them settled into their honeymoon suite we must have passed a million new couples. There were so many weddings yesterday.
And while we are on the topic why would we need to settle the newly married to their room? Anyone who wore the Kandyan attire as a bride would understand. The basic Kandyan jewelry set includes the following.
4 padakkam
4 chains for the padakkam,
throatlet,
Nalal patiya
sun & moon for the head,
agasthi Malaya
2 pethi Mala
hand ornament (with the rings)
earrings ( koodu arungal)
two bangles ( beekku and agasthi)
one extra bangle ( agasthi),
waist chain,
konda katuwa
sari pin with a gate bead.
Trust me. They weigh a lot. Add to these the flowers on the head with a million or so hair pins. For an example, see this picture of a beautiful bride that I happened to take. Wouldn't all those jewelry leave her with a massive headache and a neck-ache?
I've been there. I remember after the reception was over, my neck hurt so much from carrying all that weight. While I wore less flowers on my head and my overall attire was less decorative than the pretty bride in the picture, I suffered from a massive neck cramp afterwards. But I suppose all that trouble was worth it. :)
So yesterday, by the time the wedding was over, the bride was near tears and I felt it was my duty to relieve her from her bridal jewelry. There is no way that she could have taken it all of f by herself. While the new husband was pacing the room impatiently, I removed all her necklaces just to find a sore wound on the nape of her neck where the metal wires the bridal dressing person had used to link up the necklaces had rubbed. You can rest assured that I threw a fit of righteous indignation when I saw the fellow to hand over the jewelry. Why pay them so much, if they can't be bothered to come up with something less painful?
awesome site.. have learnt lots of new things... hanuman chalisa
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