India_2015- Functions

Festivals and functions! Woohooo! This is where the Indian party is at...weddings, religious ceremonies, baby showers, and birthday parties, etc. Decorations, preparations, food, everything is important. Yea, it takes hours and hours to get ready for such events, but it looks beautiful by the end.   

These yellow flowers tied onto a string are called garlands. Garlands are usually put around someones neck, but these were hung around the exterior of the place. It took a long time to hang up all of those garlands, but think about how fantastic it would look? 

Funny story... after a function I went to, all the kids ripped the garlands apart and threw the flowers around like confetti. They even played some hoops with the flowers. It was pretty funny because that ended up in a flower fight and rolling around in the flowers. The kids had yellow and orange stains all over their dresses.  This is what the floor looked like after that fiesta was over. Hey, at least the kids had their fun!

So the function we went to was in Bangalore, and it was one of our relatives "seemantham", which is similar to a baby shower. Baby showers in India are similar in some ways of those in America (where you theme the place pink or blue, decorate it, and enjoy food). But in India, a baby shower is called a "seemantham" which is an important traditional ritual. "It's a ceremony that marks a woman's passage into motherhood". Basically, the women seeks blessings from the lord, family, and friends for a healthy baby and a happy life. In some places, seemantham's are performed for not only Hindus, but for Muslims and Christians.

Food has become a big deal at any Indian function in general. The host can't make all the food themselves so they get someone to cater. There are so many choices within the appetizer, main course, and dessert. At the function we went to, the food served was north-south indian styled, so they served a mix of north and south indian food. Some of the items were also made on the spot. And I ate until I couldn't anymore. Like seriously, there were 5 different flavors of ice cream, all new flavors for me, and I wanted to try them all, but I was way to full to even drink water. It's not very healthy to overeat, but you only go to Indian functions once in a while... you know? Although, Indian food is very healthy, except for the oily and buttery foods, everything is fresh and not processed. So it's alright if you eat a lot...

The food area was on the terrace, and I thought that was pretty cool. They brought these red curtains/walls, carpet, and all the food up two flights of stairs. Lots of work but it was very comfortable and spacious. These were the fancy walls up there, grand right? Ok so the day started off with everyone getting ready and dressed. Then all the relatives and friends arrived. Once everyone was settled and ready, the seemantham ceremony happened. Snacks and drinks were being served throughout the ceremony. I took pictures of the ceremony for sometime, which was pretty cool, but it's tough to ask everyone to look at you for a picture. A little while after the seemantham finished, lunch time!! We all overate our lunch and desert up on the terrace. Then the kids had their own hallelujah time (which included the flower party). A lot of the friends left after lunch, which left the cousins/family behind to clean-up and chill. By dinner time, the adults went out for dinner and the kids... we just had fun together. Indian functions are known for all these things, trust me. 

Yess dress up time! A girls favorite time, well, most girls. For big evens, all the girls get mehndi done on their hands. Mehndi is a herbal paste that you put on your hand as a design and it'll stay on for weeks. For big functions, a mehndi person comes over to put mehndi designs on all the girls. It takes a lot of time and money, plus it's like a huge party. Then all the girls sleep with it on to dry the paste. It washed off in the morning and the paste leaves a dark red stain that will stay for weeks. The redder, the better. Haha, this is my cousins hand modeling her mehndi for me.

But mendhi isn't important, the dresses and jewelry are. Indian traditional clothing is over-the-top fancy. Ladies wear sarees, and i'm sure there are more saree designs and styles than there are women in India. Like, that's how many designs and colors exist, if that's even possible. There's also the half-saree, which is what I wore for the function. This is a close-up of my half-saree in this picture. The detail and depth of field is what I love the most in this picture. It's a great close-up of the material and design. The depth of field is great too because only the middle part of the picture is focused. 

The top left picture is of a half-saree I wore for a different function and I kept taking pictures of the dress because it looked so photogenic in pictures. And I don't know why but I loved taking pictures of the tassels especially. The bottom left picture is of my hand. Yea, pretty cool because it takes skill to snap a picture with only the left hand. Did I mention how important jewelry is? Females always wear jewelry but you must wear really nice jewelry for functions. I'm talking expensive and grand. Some of the jewelry included is: a necklace, earrings, bangles, a bindi, a ring, maybe an anklet, and maybe a belt. (There are the maybes because not everyone wears them all the time.) There are tons and tons of varieties and designs of each, which makes jewelry very important.

 

This one is one of my favorite pictures in this post. Why? Because it looks like a set-up wallpaper. I realize now that I must've looked pretty funny while taking the picture. I was sitting on this wooden box sorta thing, which is the wood you see in the picture, and I sat there trying so hard to keep everything in place and to get the right angle. I wanted the bangles to stand up but it was tough.  And I tried waiting for the right moment to get the sunlight shining. Either way, I love the set up and the color scheme blending so well together. 

All in all, you should get yourself invited to some sort of Indian event, if you haven't already. Definitely worth experiencing! The grander, the better! :)