Tag Archives: Nepali

Our Story : Mehendi ceremony- Part 39

Posted on November 12, 2014 | 13 comments

This is a continuation of my previous posts. Please read the previous posts here.

Finally after so many ups and down, the wedding rituals began. The first ritual was the Mehendi ceremony.

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Mehendi ceremony is not a traditional part in Nepali wedding but I wanted to do something similar to hen’s night in Nepal. I did have a hen’s night in Australia but I still wanted to do something in Nepal with my cousins and friends as well to remember my wedding as a fun ceremony.

mehendi (3)

Mehendi means henna and, during this ceremony, a henna artist applies mehendi to the bride’s hands and feet, as well as to the hands of all female relatives and friends. This is purely done for decoration and to make the bride look even more beautiful on her wedding day. So I arranged a person to come to my place to put Mehendi on. I invited all my close female relatives and good friends. So it was going to be a girl’s night with Mehendi and music.

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I went for bridal Mehendi while all my friends and family had simpler ones. The bridal designs are so intricate, that they require several hours to be drawn and then to dry. My mehendi took more than 3 hours. It was hard spending 3 hours sitting on a chair, with somebody painting your hands and feet, you just cannot move even to eat, drink, go to the loo or basically do anything at all except for talking.

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I waited for another hour for the mehendi to get a little dry and then applied a mixture of lemon and sugar. It is supposed to make it darker. Whole day passed with us having fun while the mehendi guy was applying mehendi to everyone’s hand.

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The mehendi was followed, in the evening, by dancing and music. It was great to see people dancing including my aunts and cousins and having fun. My mum was also having a great time and even though she was busy at the same time as she was making lunch for the guests. It was worth all the effort and money I paid the guy at the end of the day.

mehendi (2)

When I scrubbed off the dried out Mehendi, it had left a deep red coloured design. It is a common belief that the darker the colour of the mehndi on the hands on a bride, the more will she be loved by her husband. I was thinking, of course I know that and that is the reason I am getting married to him 🙂

Wedding Ceremony

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to vote your favorite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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Our Story : Satyanarayan puja- Part 38

Posted on November 11, 2014 | 4 comments

This is a continuation of my previous posts. Please read the previous posts here.

In Nepal, for any big auspicious occasion, people perform a Satyanarayan puja. My mum had planned it to be done a week before the wedding.

Satyanarayan puja (8)

Lord Satyanarayana is another form of Lord Vishnu. The Lord Vishnu in this form is considered an embodiment of truth (Satya). Satyanarayan is worshipped at home with family and friends by reciting the miraculous story of Lord Satyanarayan. This puja is performed before big events like weddings to bless everyone and to keep evil away so there is no problem during the important occasions.

Satyanarayan puja (7)

We had a priest come to our place early in the morning and my mum and aunties made all the preparation. On this auspicious day, we had lots of relatives come over to be in the puja. On the day of the puja, the devotee has to fast and it was going to be my mum, my SIL, me and a few of my cousins. I also asked AS to fast with us. Generally, men don’t do the fasting but but AS was nice enough to be supportive and be in puja with us and fast with us.

Satyanarayan puja (6)

The priest organised all the things for puja and asked us to do certain things from time to time. Here are the details of what you need for the puja and the procedure.

Puja Material

A book on the Puja (in consultation with a Brahmin), a square platform (Chaurang), mango leaves, two new cloth pieces, kalasha, lord’s idol or a photograph, turmeric, kumkum, panchamrut, six coconuts, prasad, four oil lamps, sandal paste, incense sticks, betel leaves, two garlands, areca nuts, turmeric pods, dry dates or almonds, camphor, offerings in form of cash or coins, tulsi leaves and flowers.

Satyanarayan puja (5)

Puja Procedure

The puja consists of five parts. The first one deals with the timing of the vrat and the procedure. The other four parts describe stories of the greatness of the God. The stories convince the importance of the puja. On the day of the puja, it is required to fast and perform the puja in the evening.

Satyanarayan puja (4)

In a clean room, a new clean cloth is spread on an elevated platform (Chaurang) and rice-grains, about a kilo are spread on it, in the centre. A kalash (Copper pot) capped with a new cloth piece is placed and a small idol of the Lord Vishnu is positioned on it.

The puja begins with the lighting of the lamp and praying to the God Ganesha, Lakshmi, Dikpaalakaas, Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Parvathi, Sun, the nine planets and Lord Indra.

Satyanarayan puja (1)

Lord Ganesha and Panchaloka Paalakaas should be positioned to the north of the Kalash and can be worshipped through areca nuts or almonds or turmeric pods or dry dates. Then, the nine planets should be worshipped by placing areca nuts on betel leaves followed by Lord Indra and other Dikpaalakaas.

Satyanarayan puja (2) Satyanarayan puja (3)

Later the Lord Satyanarayana‘s idol or image on betel leaf should be worshipped by Panchamrut (a mixture of ghee, milk, sugar, honey and curds) abhishek (sprinkle). At the end of the puja, there is udvaasana, a formal way of concluding the puja.

Satyanarayan puja (9)

After the puja, we all had lunch and rested for a while. That day I didn’t stress much but enjoyed being at home with everyone and staying positive that our wedding would go smoothly and would be good.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to vote your favorite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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Our Story : Wedding preparations and dramas – Part 37

Posted on November 10, 2014 | 3 comments

This is a continuation of my previous posts. Please read the previous posts here.

Once I landed in Nepal, time seemed to just fly and I didn’t realise that it was almost the time AS was going to be in Kathmandu. In the two weeks, I finally found a flower guy who was going to decorate the venue and provide flowers. He was charging me heaps but I was ok as long as he provided what I wanted.

nepali wedding

I also had a meeting with the photographer and was pleased to see his works. He seemed to have a modern outlook with an understanding attitude. I had a very bad experience with the photographer during the engagement so I wanted to make sure that this time we had some nice photos. After negotiating the price I had finally selected the videographer and photographer. The venue was already finalised by my dad and I was happy as it was near our place and very spacious.

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The most important thing was still in limbo, my outfits for the wedding and it’s not that I needed to pick just one dress; I needed 7 outfits in total for different functions. As you may already know in most of the Asian weddings there are different functions and a newari wedding is not any different.

My mum had already bought me one outfit, a red duppta sari and my mother in law had got one for me as well. But for the rest of the functions, I needed to decide what I wanted and to buy them. I have options to go boutique but most of them are super expensive for good one or to buy readymade ones off the shelves.

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In the middle of this crazy preparation, I also needed to go shopping with my MIL as she wanted me to choose the bag, shoes and other stuff that she was going to give me. It was really thoughtful of her so one afternoon, we went shopping and I choose a few shoes, hand bags, and accessories.

AS arrived in Kathmandu and it was so nice to see him again after two weeks. I went with his brother to pick him up from the airport. We had a short time together before they drop me off at my parents’ house and he went to his own parents’ house. From that day, we had 2 weeks for the wedding.

Luckily, when I was talking to one of my friends, she introduced to me to a beauty parlour for my hair and make-up. The last thing to do was buy a few saris and a lehenga for the reception. One afternoon I was determined to finish my shopping so I went with my cousin and bought a lehnga and a few saris. I just didn’t want to think about the outfits anymore as there were so many other things to be organised.

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I also booked for someone to come to our place for our mehendhi ceremony and sort out other details. By then I had one week left for the wedding.

Once AS was in Kathmandu, it was easier for me as I could always ask him to accompany me. We went to order the cakes together. No one was willing to do a cake as per our design. On top of that, there weren’t any nice toppers like we wanted available with them.

So we went to handicraft shops and finally found two different toppers for the two cakes.

Wedding Ceremony

One topper was of a bride carried in olden style basket and the other was of a bride and groom. We loved both of it but again it was hard finding a baker willing to do a cake as we wanted with our toppers.

Wedding Ceremony

Finally, one bakery agreed and we placed our order. We were not sure of the outcome at that point but had no other choice but to trust them.

Later when the cakes were delivered, we were over the moon as they did a great job.

Wedding CeremonyWedding Ceremony

In the mean time I also made 200 packets of Masala (a Sagun bag with lots of dried fruits and nuts) to be given to the Janti.

During that time, it was hard for me to sleep at nights as my mind raced 100 miles an hour thinking of what else needed to be done for the wedding. I never realised that wedding planning was going to be such a tough job but it was. Most nights I slept late and woke up early but things were being done and it was a relief. Every morning I was on the phone and every afternoon running around doing errands. It was such a hectic two weeks for me and on top of that as it was monsoon in Nepal the rain didn’t help at all.

More on the wedding in the next post.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to vote your favorite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

 Go to Part 38

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Our Story : Wedding plans and hiccups – Part 36

Posted on November 9, 2014 | 2 comments

This is a continuation of my previous posts. Please read the previous posts here.

Once we got back from our New Zealand holiday, we had only a few months left before we were to fly to Kathmandu for our big day. The plan was for me to go before AS as he didn’t have many days of leaves. I needed to go ahead and help my parents plan the big day.

During the few months remaining the date of the wedding changed a few times which meant that we need to change out tickets accordingly. I was really annoyed by that but there was nothing we could do from here.

Finally the “Sait” (auspicious time for wedding ceremony) was finalised and according to that the other functions of the wedding were finalised as well. Both our families were busy booking the venues for the functions and receptions.

As most of you already know weddings in Nepal are not a small affair and ours was not going to be small either. Every time we Skyped with our family, they would update us with the progress. Sometimes I felt so helpless listening to them as they were doing so many things and there was not much we could do from here.

From my end, I was trying to organise the photographer and wedding cakes. I also wanted to find a place to buy my bridal outfits and a palour to do my hair and make-up. I think Nepal is one of the worst places to have a wedding if you are trying to find any information online. There are hardly any websites that provide the services and on top of that if you find any and email them, they don’t reply to your queries.

During this time I so wished I had a sister in Nepal who could go around and help me. I felt so lonely and desperate by the end of the process. I was tired, frustrated and annoyed that nothing could be sorted out via the internet. I had to wait until I was in Kathmandu to do everything and I would have only a few weeks before the actual wedding when I got there.

Finally, I got hold of one photographer who seemed good, nothing about the cake was done and my outfits were nowhere near selected. I had a long list of things that needed to be done and most of them were not possible from Sydney. I used to get so annoyed every day but AS was always there to calm me down.

With AS it was easy, he decided that he will wear “daura sural” one day and suits the rest. The only thing he needed to do was give an order for these few suits and everything was sorted for him.

With work keeping me sane and busy, it was finally the day of my flight to Nepal. I was excited and scared at the same time. AS dropped me to the airport and we said goodbye for 2 weeks.

I was praying on the flight that the wedding would go as planned and there would not be any unexpected problems. I really wished someone in Nepal was free so I could get some helping hand with my preparations.

With my mum busy with her job and dad on his business, I was not sure I would be able to manage the list and execute a wedding.

The flight to Kathmandu was fine though long but I was really glad to see my parents at the airport when they came to pick me. I was just glad that I was home and I promised myself that no matter how the wedding was going to go, I would have fun and it would be our special time and nothing should ruin the experience.

Be ready to read about the crazy wedding preparation and wedding in my next posts. Till then,

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to vote your favorite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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Our trip to New Zealand : Milford Sound

Posted on November 6, 2014 | 4 comments

While we were in New Zealand, we went to Milford Sound for a day trip.

Milford Sound (5) Milford Sound (6) Milford Sound (7)

Milford Sound is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island, within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world’s top travel destination and called the eighth Wonder of the World.

Milford Sound (8) Milford Sound (9) Milford Sound (10) Milford Sound (11)

One of the world’s most beautiful fjords, Milford Sound also holds the dubious honour of being the wettest place in New Zealand. On average, there are 186 days each year when rain falls, dumping almost seven metres of the stuff on anyone unlucky enough to time their visit badly. Although there is less rain during the winter months, there are still sixteen days a month of wet weather in any season. I’d read that the high rainfall totals led to spectacular waterfalls, and, when windy, dramatic updrafts of water.

Milford Sound (21) Milford Sound (20)

Milford Sound is more than 3 hours away from Queenstown so we decided to book a tour rather than drive there on our own. It was an exciting journey for us with beautiful scenery ending with an amazing cruise.

Milford Sound (13)The coach that we were on was perfectly suited for sightseeing in a place as dramatic as the Milford Road, with clear glass windows and roof. The bus stopped every once in a while so we could all take every picture possible on the way.

Milford Sound (1)

Our first stop was Te Anau, which is a lovely little village sitting on the edge of Lake Te Anau. At Te Anau we met up with the famous Milford Road, one of the great drives in the world. It’s quite a long lake, whose coast we followed for a while.

Milford Sound (1) Milford Sound (2)  Milford Sound (4)

The next stop was Mirror Lakes, to take some great photos of the reflections of the mountains in the lake and we were very lucky that the water was so calm.

Milford Sound (3)

Our cameras were on constant work during the whole trip as all the places we saw were so beautiful that we wanted to capture every one of them.

Milford Sound (10)

Then, we stopped at the Chasm walk next which took us into the woods to a couple of bridges where we saw waterfalls that had done amazing things to the rocks around them—gouging holes and depositing tree trunks in holes in the rocks 20 ft. above the current flow.

Milford Sound (7) Milford Sound (8) Milford Sound (9) Milford Sound (11)

We had a few other stops before we reached Milford Sound.

Milford Sound (12)

The road is quite challenging and I was glad we decided to get the tour rather than drive ourselves. We headed through the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2 km long tunnel linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Darran Mountain range at the Homer Saddle. You could tell it was dug by hand because there were pick marks on the side walls and on the roadway. It was pitch black inside the tunnel and a very different experience. Once we were out on other side, it was downhill with a windy zig zag road that takes you down to Milford Sound.

Milford Sound (2) Milford Sound (3) Milford Sound (4)

Finally, we reached Milford Sound and it was just beautiful and breathtaking. We had a boat waiting or us for the cruise. Arriving at Milford Sound’s boat dock, the sky was a deep blue and we took the opportunity to capture some amazing shots.

Milford Sound (12) Milford Sound (13) Milford Sound (14) Milford Sound (15)

As soon as we boarded, we ate lunch as both of were starving. The sandwich and coffee tasted better with the spectacular view and a hungry tummy 🙂

The cruise started and the pilot informed us about the place and its history. We saw some seals sunning themselves on a rocky outcrop and some beautiful waterfalls along the way.

Milford Sound (2) Milford Sound (1) Milford Sound (18) Milford Sound (22) Milford Sound (14)

A couple of times the pilot ran the boat up very close to a waterfall, so those on the bow got sprayed and AS managed to get some really nice photos.

Milford Sound (16) Milford Sound (17) Milford Sound (19)

After almost 2 hours, our tour wound down and, we got on the bus and headed back to Queenstown happy with how our day went. It was an amazing day with some great memories for life.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to vote your favorite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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