Luke and Daliya's Wedding, January 13, 2009

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January 13th was the big wedding day; the ceremony and reception took place in Pallikuttumma, Alleppey, Kerala.

Daliya and I are both Catholics, so we had a church wedding—but there were definitely some cultural nuances. We had decorated wedding cars, two beautiful flower girls, and a professional choir. The mass was said in Malayalam (the language of Kerala), with only the vows being stated in English. I wore a suit to both the ceremony and reception, while Daliya wore a white wedding dress to the ceremony and a sari to the reception (a sari is the traditional women's garment in South Asia; I had to purchase a special sari for Daliya to be given as part of the wedding ceremony). We exchanged wedding rings, but the main symbolic part of ceremony consisted of a series of other gestures. First, I placed a large, gold chain around Daliya's neck. Then, I tied a thali (a special wedding pendant) around her neck on seven silk strands that had been taken from the sari that I gave her. I had to tie the strands around Daliya's neck in a particular knot that was taught to me the previous day—so I guess you can say that I literally “tied the knot.” Next, I placed a sari over her head and later transferred it to her arm. After the mass, Daliya changed from her dress into her sari and we arrived at the reception hall together. We lit an oil lamp, cut the wedding cake, and fed each other a piece—but we were also fed by each other's parents. We had large floral garlands placed around our necks and we drank coconut juice together from the same coconut (Kerala is famous for coconuts).

It was a wonderful event and I'm blessed that my parents were able to come all the way from cold, cold Iowa for the special day (while we were enjoying 80 degree weather, Iowa was setting record lows around -30 degrees). My Mother was excited to wear a sari complete with bangles and a bindi (the traditional dot that many Indian women wear on their forehead). There were about 600 guests in attendance and it was truly a joyous

occasion.

One last interesting note… instead of “you may kiss the bride,” the Christian weddings in India state that you may “shake hands with the bride”!

Best,

Luke & Daliya

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