A Guide to Sikh Wedding Rituals and Traditions
I’ve often been asked what are the Sikh wedding rituals and traditions as over the years many have been added and/ or not practised anymore. This is why I have put together this piece of research to give you the idea of what a basic Sikh wedding involves.
- Roka/ Thaka
Be it an arranged marriage or love marriage, the consent of both sets of parents is very important in all Sikh weddings.
To show that he gives his consent, the bride’s father usually visits the groom with a few people of the family and gives his full support by applying a tilak on the groom’s forehead and giving him gifts of sweets and clothes and sometimes a kara or ring.
The same ritual is then performed by the groom’s father towards the bride either later on the same day or some days prior to the engagement ceremony.
2. Chunni Ceremony
This is the official engagement ceremony while the roka is an informal ceremony where both the girl and boy are recognized by both families as soon-to-be-wedded.
The groom and his relatives and close friends take an auspicious red outfit, jewellery, simple chunni and makeup as gifts to the bride so that she could wear them on the wedding day. It is usually the female relative who present the bride with the outfit and accessories. They would take…
