Yesterday I went to a Baha'i wedding ceremony. It was quite an adventure for Anu and I to find our way there - out in the middle of nowhere, sketchy street and neighbourhood, strange map... but we found it! The grounds were actually quite beautiful with the ceremony taking place on an outdoor pavilion starting right on time in Guyana. Invitation: 5pm, wedding ceremony: 5:40pm. The bridge and groom wore traditional Indian outfits and the guests were a mixture of family and friends from across Guyana and the world.
According to their website: "The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Baha'u'llah, (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.
The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.
One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith is to help make this possible. A worldwide community of some five million Bahá'ís, representative of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family and the earth as one homeland". (http://info.bahai.org/bahaullah-basic-teachings.html)
The wedding vows were quite simple, said first by the bride and then the groom, "We Will All Verily Abide by the Will of God". The parents of the bride and groom completed the ceremony by reading Abdu'l-Baha's recommendations for a strong marriage.
Coming from a rich cultural and religious background, the bride and groom exchanged wedding rings and used a selection from a Hindu wedding ceremony - plus signed the legal wedding documents!
Dinner was a buffet of fish, chicken, pork, beef, mashed potatoes, rice, coleslaw and veggies... It was alright, but unfortunately not very nice the next day. Sympathy from my landlady included a strict lesson: "you don't eat at these thing, you just drink!" Lesson learned.
For each of you will be shelter to the other
Now you will feel no cold
For each of you will be warmth of the other
Now there is no loneliness for you
For each of you will be companions to the other
Now you are two persons
But there is one life before you
Go now to your dwelling place
To enter the days of your togetherness
And may your days be good and long upon this Earth.
~Apache wedding blessing
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