Shagun Ceremony

On my first evening in Nepal, Junni (the bride) and her immediate family were invited over to visit a neighbor's house for dinner. They asked if I would like to attend and I eagerly joined them... The house we visited was in the same development (or 'colony') as the bride's family home (across the street in fact). This particular family had developed a close friendship with Junni's parents and were considered to be family. Prior to dinner, the lady of the house performed a Shagun (luck) ceremony for the bride, which consisted of several rituals of blessing given to the bride before her wedding day...

Traditionally, this ceremony is reserved only for family members to perform. However, due to the close friendship between the two families, the ceremonial rules were expanded a bit to allow the neighbors to also wish luck and express their well-wishes through Shagun. Part of the traditional ceremony is the presentation of clothes, food, and fruit to the bride as part of the blessing. However, in keeping with the needs of the bride and groom, the tradition was slightly modified in that money was given in lieu of the clothes...

The beginning of the Shagun ceremony

Actually, I came to learn that many of the traditional wedding customs and rituals are modified to adapt to technology, changing societal dynamics, and other modern pressures... For another example, the bride is traditionally expected to visit the homes of all of her aunts and other extended family members in order to receive a Shagun blessing from each prior to the wedding. Junni was supposed to do this that morning. However, due to her exhaustion and the distance that she would have had to travel, she visited only a few select homes that day. However, a condensed shagun was performed by the rest of her aunts a few days later (before the wedding), when they were gathered together at her home...

The bride receiving the tika on her forehead

A component of the shagun was the application of tika (known as tilaka in Hindi) to the bride's forehead by the woman offering the blessing... The tika consists of a mixture of red powder (abir) derived from flowers such as Hibiscus or marigold (Tagetes) as well as yogurt and grains of rice. The tika was traditionally applied to represent one's "third eye" or "mind's eye" as associated with the idea of spiritual enlightenment, but is now mainly viewed in ceremonial terms, depending on particular customs. The application of tika was a frequent occurance throughout the week of wedding festivities and was applied to family members (and friends in my case) as well.

The bride's mother applying tika to my forehead

Part of the ceremony also consisted of the neighbor offering several foods including dried sardines and hard boiled eggs to the bride to eat. The remainder of the shagun food was divided up for the remaining family members to eat. Enjoying a couple of appetizers, most of the family also partook in a drinking game (Nepal is a drinking culture)...

Tequila shots

Afterwards, we enjoyed a fine dinner.

The mother of the bride and me