This women’s day, it’s time to celebrate, which has been a taboo for ages. Action speaks louder than words. In this era of Women Empowerment, showing the capabilities of women has become necessary to bring forth others who are still squeamish about breaking patriarchal norms. That’s exactly what these cute little sisters have done in their elder sister’s wedding ceremony.
One of the sacred rituals in a Bengali wedding is named as ‘Shubhodrishti, where the bride’s brothers and other close male relatives carry her on a peedi and circumambulate the groom seven times in a row.
All along, the bride has to cover her eyes with a pair of betel leaves. Once the ‘Saat Paak’ is complete, the bride then takes the betel leaves off her eyes. After she reveals her face, she looks into the eyes of the groom. Amid the sound of conch shells, Uludhoni and claps, as the eyes of the bride and groom meet, this auspicious moment of Shubhodrishti gets acknowledged by everyone present.
Although there are no hard and fast rules and regulations behind it, since the beginning, only the males perform this custom of carrying the bride on the peedi.
The modern age women are breaking these kinds of norms to make special moments like this more rejoicing. In this era of Women Empowerment, there is hardly anything women are not taking part in. The latest news on women empowerment is this bold movement by the Sinha Sisters, which adds up to the empowering women movement.
As proud as it sounds, these strong women decided to carry their sister (bride), instead of just letting the old custom carry out as it has been. Talking of that, the modern day feminists, have every right to question the logic behind the rituals/customs and break them if they’re illogical instead of just performing them blindly for the sake of tradition.
On Facebook the sister of the bride, Surita Sinha, shared a video of her along with her other sisters, carrying the bride on a peedi doing the ‘Saat Paak’. She added a caption stating it has always been her dream to carry her elder sister at the time of her wedding.
In the background, all of her family members and invitees seemed to be supportive of this decision because they all seemed to enjoy this moment cheerily. The bride and groom also looked very happy. We say yes to starting a new life on a happy note. And if it empowers women, then there is no backing off in the name of the fear of breaking tradition.
Breaking the norms of traditions with no proper reasons has started a few years ago when a Bengali bride denied performing ‘Kanakanjali’ saying there’s no way one can repay her mother’s debt and went viral on social media.
Another Bengali wedding went viral on social media, where the bride’s father refused to perform ‘Kanyadaan’ or gifting of the daughter to the groom.
Also read: Kanyadaan in Hindu Marriages: Vedic or Patriarchal?
As always, half of the society has accepted and supported all these bold, feminist movements, while the other half has questioned providing the sake of rules and traditions.
To end with a message to all of them, rules are made to be broken, and when there’s no logical reason behind it, breaking them is the only way we can proceed for a better future.