[Jeremiah Mburuburu]

Rashmun wrote:Also could you clarify which of these ladies is representing the hindu, muslim, and christian marriage dress?

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:that photograph appears to be entirely wrong. women in kerala don't wear so much gold; they wear relatively simple wedding clothes. that's especially true of the nairs and the syrian christians. the general idea is to *not* look "as if you're wearing everything you own." i also believe that the more educated one is, the less gold one tends to wear.

Rashmun wrote:The photo i give below had the following caption:
In the matrimonial market in Kerala, Gold plays a very pivotal role, irrespective of the religion. Depicted below is a representative sample from the three major religions: Hindu, Muslim and Christian.



The attire of these women is not very different from what middle class north indian woman would wear on her wedding. With the exception of the flowers and the excessive gold jewellery. i found the wearing of excessive gold jewellery somewhat gaudy. Your comments?

Kumarg wrote:

Rashmun wrote:The photo i give below had the following caption:
In the matrimonial market in Kerala, Gold plays a very pivotal role, irrespective of the religion. Depicted below is a representative sample from the three major religions: Hindu, Muslim and Christian.



The attire of these women is not very different from what middle class north indian woman would wear on her wedding. With the exception of the flowers and the excessive gold jewellery. i found the wearing of excessive gold jewellery somewhat gaudy. Your comments?

Which one of the three is a Muslim?

doofus_maximus wrote:this doesn't look like matrimonial site ad or a matrimonial. This looks like an ad for a jewelery store ad. Jewelery store ads usually feature a woman in traditional attire decked from head to toe in gold. Smegma thatha is probably going senile.


We all know the obsession indians have over gold jewelery.

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:here's a woman, an actress who's said to be a syrian christian, in a typical, kerala sari worn on special occasions by many women of kerala, syrian christian and hindu:

http://www.india-forums.com/event/4268/181970-asin-thottumkal-grace-ritesh-deshmukh-genelia-dsouza-wedding-ba.htm

to my knowledge, that sari is made of cotton, and there's not much variation in the design; it doesn't get more showy than that. the design of the necklace is also traditional, but i personally don't care for it. the wearing of flowers in the hair is not typical of syrian christian (s.c.) women.

most s.c. women don't wear that traditional, nearly single-style sari at their own weddings; they wear rich, (hard-to-find) off-white conjeevarams, or more often, if i remember correctly, bengal silk saris with a rich sheen, in which off-whites and pastels are easier to find.

s.c women do *not* wear the pure white, gauzy sari or the veil-like head dress seen in the photograph you (rashmun) posted. if any covering of the head is needed during the wedding ceremony, it's done with the end of the bride's sari, or another new sari suitable for a bride.

here are some more photographs of that s.c. actress in her kerala sari.

http://www.fashioncirqle.com/2012/02/03/beautiful-asin-at-reitesh-genelia-wedding/

i must tell you, however, that the traditional clothing of the s.c. woman is *not* the sari at all; it's the "chaTTa" and the "muNDu" ensemble, plus a "kavaNi" for special occasions. it's all made of white cotton, with a tiny bit of zari (kashavu) when the occasion demands it. these are (an outwardly) modest people. the chaTTa-muNDu is rarely worn outside kerala, and is dying out even in kerala.

thank you for getting me to bore myself thoroughly with these descriptions. now, i need rest.