Indian
Hindu ceremonies span several days involving more than a dozen rituals, including the mehndi lagwana when the bride’s hands and feet are decorated with henna. Some believe that the depth of the henna’s color indicates how well a bride will be treated by her mother-in-law. The longer the color lasts, the less likelihood of a catfight. One real perk is that with henna on her hands, the bride is excused from any housework, leaving her plenty of time to bond with her husband — and make a baby. The woman gets another excuse from house chores after childbirth, when she is hennaed again, right in the delivery room.
Vietnamese
The groom’s family visits the home of the bride’s family. Upon arriving, the groom’s family lights firecrackers; the bride’s family lights their own round of firecrackers in response. The groom’s family gives elaborately decorated lacquer boxes covered in red cloth. Each box includes a gift: betel, wine, tea, fruit, cakes, a roast pig and jewelry for the bride. The number of boxes varies from six or eight, but never seven or nine, which is seen as bad luck.
Burmese
The Burmese word to marry, let htat, literally means to join palms together. Thus, during the ceremony, the officiant, typically a Brahmin, will join the palms of the couple and wrap them in white cloth. He’ll dip the joined palms in a silver bowl and chant a few Sanskrit mantras. When this is over, the Brahmin will blow a large conch shell.
Japanese
A Japanese bride wears a shiromuku, a white silk kimono and a white headdress. Her face is also painted white, but the color doesn’t symbolize purity as in Western cultures, but an end and a new beginning. The bride is thought to die as her father’s daughter and reborn a member of her husband’s family. Central to the ceremony is sake drinking, called san-san-kudo, or the way of “three-three-nine.” Odd numbers are considered lucky because they can’t be divided by two. Hence, three sips from three cups of sake make the couple very lucky — and pleasantly buzzed.
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