Adiba Khatun looks at the bride and groom’s first engagement together, which turns out to be….their engagement.
My mini-series will be covering the nuptials of Mr. M.M. from London and Mrs. L.M. from Cambridge, and the four different events which jointly comprised their recent South Asian wedding. I will be looking at the South Asian wedding in every aspect. This article is all about cinifan or engagement.
It is the first official event in the wedding process. The bride and groom whose marriage has been arranged, get together with their respective families to formalise the arrangement. This entails fixing the date of the wedding ceremony and confirming the consent of the bride and groom themselves.
For this engagement ceremony, also known as cinifan in Bengali, the families met in the bride’s home town of Cambridge. Traditionally, the cinifan was very basic. However, for this event, the bride and groom sat in the same room together in a hired out hall, set with seating and catering. And then everyone took a few memorable pictures……
The families also decided to splash out on the decorative feature known as taals (decorated trays) made with materials ranging from plastic to marshmallows.
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Next episode: five months later, the mehndi…