Blessings
On the wedding day, at the respective homes of both bride and groom, the priest and close relatives gather for prayers. Because they are going to be elevated as the heads of a new family, at this time they stand on a woven grass mat and, and from that time onwards they are treated as important persons.
After prayers the elders of the family and other respected community members like the first teacher of bride or groom are given gifts (Dhakshina) and in return they give their blessings. The Dhakshina consists of a betel leaf, areca nut and tobacco. Now tobacco is not included because of its presumed health hazard.
Read more about this topic: Mar Thoma Weddings
Famous quotes containing the word blessings:
“These to thee, my God, we owe;
Source whence all our blessings flow;
And for these my soul shall raise
Grateful vows and solemn praise.”
—Anna Letitia (Aikin)
“I regard a love for poetry as one of the most needful and helpful elements in the life- outfit of a human being. It was the greatest of blessings to me, in the long days of toil to which I was shut in much earlier than most young girls are, that the poetry I held in my memory breathed its enchanted atmosphere through me and around me, and touched even dull drudgery with its sunshine.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
“A well-proportioned mind is one which shows no particular bias; one of which we may safely say that it will never cause its owner to be confined as a madman, tortured as a heretic, or crucified as a blasphemer. Also, on the other hand, that it will never cause him to be applauded as a prophet, revered as a priest, or exalted as a king. Its usual blessings are happiness and mediocrity.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)