The Wedding

I went to a Nepali wedding. It's ironic because I've been desperate for someone in the States to get married (c'mon friends, speed it up...). Whatever, I'll take what I can get and this was quite an interesting ceremony. Not for its intricate systems, but its brevity.

Shusila, my friend and cook, got married to her boyfriend Tara. They are of different castes so it was probably rushed on account of this possible/probable tension for their families. I found out the wedding was happening about a week before it occurred. They decided to have it on "Tika day" which is one of the holiest days of the year. Usually you have to check with an astrologist to make sure you're having your wedding on holy/lucky day, but Tika Day is perpetually awesome so no consultation was necessarily.

At around 1pm Meredith and I took a taxi to Bhaktapur, where Shusila's family is from. Bhaktapur is only 15-20 minutes outside of Kathmandu, but is amazingly rural and pastoral. Before the wedding we wandered around Bhaktapur with Shusila's brother Saroj. He took us to one of many brick factories.



He also took us around the rice paddies that are just busting to be harvested. There are these nice little pathways that you can walk around to see all the paddies. We found this ladies shoes and basket but had no idea where the lady was:



We also did the requisite fondling of baby goats. This one is two days old!!! Jesus.



We hung out with Shusila and Saroj's relatives that live in Bhaktapur. It's strange how much the clay Bhaktapur houses look so similar to some Native American abodes. Here's Mer sitting under their clay house. (This paragraph is crap)



Then we watched the wedding. First, Shusila and Tara sat in a small room and got tika's from the main relatives:



Second, they stood up and exchanged rings and lei-like things:



Third, the stole my camera to take awkward (to me) and unsmiling pictures of the family. Here's me and Mer in the wedding room (yes, I'm wearing a cute vest):