Haldi kunku ceremony

On Sunday, our group of girls met over lunch at an Indian restaurant and celebrated the traditional haldi-kunku ceremony.

Let me give you a little background of this:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:-

Makara Sankranti is a Hindu festival celebrated in almost all parts of India and Nepal in a myriad of cultural forms. It is a harvest festival.

Makar Sankranti marks the transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Makara rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path. The day is also believed to mark the arrival of spring in India and is a traditional. Makara Sankranti is a solar event making one of the few Indian festivals which fall on the same date in the Gregorian Calender every year: 14 January, with some exceptions when the festival is celebrated on 13 or 15 January.

In Maharashtra on the Makara Sankranti (मकर संक्रान्ति) day people exchange multi-coloured halwa(sugar granules coated in sugar syrup) and til-gul ladoos (sweetmeats made from sesame seeds and jaggery). Gulachi Poli (flat bread stuffed with soft/shredded Jaggery mixed with toasted, ground Til (white sesame seeds)and some gram flour which has been toasted to golden in plenty of pure Ghee) are offered for lunch. While exchanging til-gul as tokens of goodwill people greet each other with the words, "तिळगुळ घ्या आणि गोड गोड बोला/til-gul ghya, aani god god bola" meaning ‘Accept these tilguls and speak sweet words’. The underlying thought in the exchange of til-gul is to forget the past ill feelings and hostilities and resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends.

This is a special day for the women in Maharashtra when married women are invited for a get-together called ‘Haldi-Kunku’ (literally meaning turmeric and vermillion) and given gifts such as utensil, clothes, etc. Typically, women wear black sarees or black coloured outfits on this occasion. The significance of wearing black is that Sankranti comes at the peak of the winter season and black colour retains and absorbs heat, helping keep warm.

Though the thoughts behind this ceremony might have changed, it is a good platform to meet up with fellow women and chitchat along with delicious Indian delicacies. Being the Administrator of our group on FB, I and Beena arrived before time and waited at the restaurant. We wore traditional dress which comprises of a nice kurta and salwar. It was a cool morning, no sun in sight, but was pleasant. At about 12:30, 5 more members turned up and we ordered food. Mango lassi, Paneer tikka, Vegetable Jalfrezi, Rice, Papad and Butter Nan was the menu! And the most important part was the gift exchange. As the tradition says that the hostess distributes things to the guests, we all decided to buy a gift of 10 Euros each and then prepare chits of our names and give the gifts to each other. I had got a gift voucher of the cosmetic store chain called dm here. I prepared the chits and wrote the names of the people who were present. Then I asked everybody to pick one chit. I picked Beena's name and gave her the gift voucher. Actually, she had given me the idea of it while discussing about the event on the phone. I wanted to give something useful, not a showpiece or a vase or something that one would forget or discard. And what an irony! I got a showpiece and a vase from another member of our group. Nevertheless, the emotions are important, aren't they? And then we eat tilgul prepared by Beena and Sharayu. They were just marvelous. 100 times better than my failed attempt at making them!

We spoke, discussed, and laughed a lot. I attended the get-together after a long time, had many things to catch up! It was a nice relaxing lunch and we also talked about the next event, which is going to be a musical evening with people singing and playing instruments. Sadly, I will miss it because I am going home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH. Nothing beats that excitement and happiness of meeting my family and friends!!