The Goan wedding is a complete celebration filled with varied and authentic traditional rituals and customs. When it comes to Goan marriages, they are not just limited to just one day, but they spread over 4 to 5 days with unlimited fun and frolic to the fullest.
The monsoon weddings in Goa have become popular with the beautiful beach destinations get adorned with thematically set wedding venues. It’s really interesting to witness such wedding ceremonies as it would offer you a brand new experience.
The weddings here happen mostly in the months of April, May, and December as these are considered the peak season to have a great wedding time.
Let’s see what these customs and rituals associated with Goan weddings entail:
Goans believe in their deep-rooted and age-old ritualistic practices to make the wedding an eventful occasion. They try their level best to make each and every Goan wedding traditions vibrant through their innate jollity and never-ending zeal for celebrations.
The Goan wedding traditions start with ‘Chuddo’ where the bride has to wear a set of glass bangles.
This ritual is closely associated with Goan culture as the people give much importance to bridal accessories during wedding celebrations. The beautiful bangles specially designed in a particular color and size are known as ‘Chuddo’. Also, the shades and size of the bangles differ from village to village. These bangles made of glass are very delicate and they are purchased from the ‘Volar’, a village-based local bangle seller.
When the marriage has been fixed, the Volar is invited to the bridal residence where he puts the bangles on the wrists of the bride-to-be. In North Goa, the tradition is to wear green bangles, while in South they wear red, yellow, and green ones. The friends and the relatives of the bride also bring bangles to express the love and care they hold towards the bride.
Along with the bangles, the guests would also bring valuable gifts like jewels and clothes to the bride which she accepts and seek their blessings. The involvement of family is very important in Goan wedding traditions and hence this ritual begins at the residence of the bride’s maternal uncle. The wearing of bangles simply represents the strength that married life holds in one’s life.
The Volar is then offered money by the bride’s family as a token of blessing. He accepts the money and blesses the bride to have a happy married life. The Hindus and the Christian communities residing in Goa celebrate this ritual mandatorily before the wedding.
Once the Chuddo ceremony is over, then comes the ‘Ros’ ritual where the bride and the groom are supposed to be smeared with pure coconut milk.
This is a pre-wedding ritual celebrated 2 to 3 days prior to the day of the wedding. The ritual is done at the respective houses of the bride and the groom and it is performed by the parents of the bridegroom along with their friends, relatives, and other guests. Pouring coconut milk on the bride and the groom is supposed to purify the couple before the wedding and the ritual simply signifies a new life filled with happiness and prosperity.
Interestingly, there is a lot more fun for the people who anoint the couple with coconut milk during the ‘Ros’ ceremony as they break eggs on the couple’s heads and also throw coins along with cash toward them.
The cash and the coins are then put in different bowls and later given to the maids who helped in the wedding preparations. After the ‘Ros’ ceremony, the bride, as well as the groom, are not allowed to leave their respective houses as a safety measure to protect them from any accidents or injuries.
As said earlier, the Goans go deep into their culture and traditions. And that’s why they have a meal in honor of the ancestors before the wedding. This ritual is known as ‘Bhuim Jevon’.
This is just a thanksgiving gesture for the ancestors of the family and the food is served to the poor people in and around the village.
During the wedding day, there are a few simple rituals and among them, the most important ritual is ‘Opsun Divnchum’.
This is an age-old tradition in Goan weddings in which the father of the bride officially hands over his daughter to the groom.
Once the marriage rituals are over, the bride’s family formally invites the groom’s family for a meal on the next day of the wedding.
This ritual is known as ‘Appoune’ or ‘Porthopon’.
While visiting, the bride dons a traditional bright red and gold saree called ‘Saddo’.
Goan weddings are simple and the ritualistic practices differ from one village to the other. There are various customs associated with Goan weddings and it is one’s choice whether to have it or not.
However, the wedding traditions happen in the span of 4 to 5 days when celebrations would be at their peak. Since the perfect destination to have a grand affair, the Goan wedding offers you a great time to spend quality time with your family and friends.
Destination Weddings in Goa
Goa’s destination weddings are truly fabulous, where you will be offered all the splendor of a beach destination. It would be a great experience for your family and friends to provide them with a kind of mini-vacation. And for the couple, it’s really romantic to unwind yourself with the fine-tuning of nature. Walk through the sprawling shores with your beloved, while the waves give you a gentle stroke, making the moment even more quixotic. Well, it’s more than what you imagine.
The Goan Cuisine
The food served during Goan weddings describes Goan culture’s real essence, and it’s undeniably delicious. The Goan cuisine is inspired and altered through decades where you can behold the local cultures set by the colonial powers who once insisted on their food culture in India. Times have changed, and now, it’s deliciously amazing to savor the taste of Goan cuisine prepared with local ingredients. It gives you the real flavor of Goa.
