🇮🇳 India
The baraat is the groom's procession, in which he rides a mare, often a white one, to the wedding, with a band and relatives dancing in front. It ends with the milni, in which the two families meet and exchange garlands.
Read: BaraatThe wedding procession and the arrival
Many weddings are a journey.
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Many weddings are a journey. The groom rides to the bride's house on a horse, the bride is carried in a chair, a band marches through a village, a car convoy sounds its horns or a bride walks up an aisle to a march. The procession announces the wedding to the neighbourhood and gives everyone a part to play, and often there is a gate to block, a price to pay or a song to sing before the guests are let in.
Announcing the day
A wedding procession tells the community that a marriage is being made, and invites the neighbours to share the noise and the joy. Drums, pipes, trumpets, firecrackers and singing carry through the streets. Many cultures decorate the vehicle, the horse or the road. Neighbours may line the street, throw petals, or tie ribbons to cars.
The meeting at the gate
Often the procession meets a barrier. In Indian weddings, the groom's baraat is greeted at the bride's door with a milni, the meeting of the two families' elders, and with playful demands from the bride's sisters. In Indonesian Betawi weddings, the groom's party performs a mock fight and an exchange of rhymed verses at the palang pintu. In China, the bridesmaids block the door and ask for red packets and answers to riddles. These games are signs that the bride is valued, and a way to relax two families who have not yet met.
Who walks, who rides
The groom may ride a horse (India, Pakistan), a decorated car, a boat or on foot. The bride may be carried (the amariya of Morocco), walk with her father (the Western aisle), arrive with her mother, or wait inside. Zaffe, the Arab wedding procession of drums and dancers, leads the couple into the hall in Egypt, Lebanon and across the region. Brides in some regions are accompanied by a female relative who carries the dowry, or by children carrying flowers.
How it is changing
Traffic, noise rules and cost have shortened or changed many processions: a baraat may be allowed only for an hour, or a horse replaced by a car. Mega-venues sometimes recreate the street procession inside the hall, with a stage. Concern for animal welfare has led some cities to restrict the use of horses or elephants. Couples increasingly plan their own entrance, to a chosen song, whatever the older customs say.
The wedding procession and the arrival around the world
🇵🇰 Pakistan
The barat is the groom's party that travels to the bride's family, led by drummers and by relatives who dance. The bride is formally sent off, the rukhsati, with the Quran held over her head.
Read: Baraat🇮🇩 Indonesia
At a Betawi wedding in Jakarta the groom's party is stopped at the palang pintu, the gate, where two champions trade rhymed verses and a mock martial-arts fight in silat before they are let through. The ritual ends with a recital of the Quran.
Betawi people, being written🇵🇭 Philippines
In a Filipino church wedding the groom and both sets of parents walk in the procession, followed by the principal sponsors, and children carry the rings and the coins. At the reception, guests pin money on the couple during the money dance.
Culture of the Philippines, being written🇨🇳 China
The groom collects the bride from her house in a car convoy, formerly in a red sedan chair, and her bridesmaids block the door until he gives red packets and answers questions. Firecrackers are set off on arrival to announce the couple.
Sedan chair, being written🇰🇷 South Korea
In the traditional Korean wedding the groom brought a wooden wild goose, a symbol of lifelong fidelity, to the bride's family, and the old rites took place at the bride's house. After the wedding the bride is brought to the groom's home in a ceremonial procession.
Read: PyebaekTraditions to start with
BaraatThe groom's wedding procession.
Hausa traditional marriageThe Moroccan bridal chair.
Palang pintuThe Betawi gate game.Also part of it, and being written: Zaffe (The Arab wedding entrance.), Powhiri (The Maori welcome.), Wedding march (Music for the procession.), Sedan chair (A carried seat.), Callejoneada (The Mexican street procession.).
Questions people ask
Why does the groom arrive on a horse?
In North India the horse recalls the groom as a prince or warrior coming to claim a bride, and it carries a sense of luck and celebration. Many families now use a car or a decorated carriage.
Why is the door blocked?
The mock blocking is a game that tests the groom's goodwill and gives the bride's family a chance to show affection. Payment is symbolic and shared out among the bride's friends.
Is a baraat allowed in every city?
Not always. Some places limit noise, road closures and animals, so organisers usually check with the local authority.
Who walks the bride down the aisle?
Most often her father or both parents, but any person the bride chooses may do so, or she may walk alone.
About this page
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
The wedding procession and the arrival on EveryShaadi
The traditions written up so far, best known first.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreMizmarمزمار (mizmār)
A loud double reed instrument played at weddings and festivals across Egypt and the Levant.Performance · Procession and arrival
🇵🇱 Poland and 1 morePolonaisePolonez
A stately Polish partner dance in triple metre that opens weddings and formal celebrations.Performance · Procession and arrival
🇮🇩 Jakarta, IndonesiaPalang pintu
The martial arts and poetry test that allows the groom to enter the bride's home in Betawi weddings.Rite · The weeks before
🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreZaffaزفّة
A lively musical procession that marks the start of wedding festivities in Arab culture.Performance · The weeks before
🇬🇷 Crete, GreecePentozaliΠεντοζάλης
The vigorous Cretan war dance of high jumps and improvisation that marks the wedding procession.Performance · Procession and arrival
🇮🇳 Delhi, India and 1 moreBaraat
The groom's wedding procession through the streets to the bride's home or venue.Performance · Procession and arrival
🇵🇱 Poland and 1 moreBadchenבּדחן (badkhn)
The Ashkenazi Jewish wedding entertainer and master of ceremonies who guides the couple through ritual stages with song Performance · Engagement and betrothal
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreWedding music
The songs and instruments that mark the arrival of the couple and set the mood for the celebration.Performance · The weeks before
🇦🇫 AfghanistanAhesta Beroآهسته برو
The song played to welcome the bride and groom into the wedding hall in AfghanistanPerformance · Procession and arrival
🇱🇹 Lithuania and 1 moreLithuanian wedding songsvestuvinės dainos
The polyphonic songs and weeping rituals that mark a Lithuanian bride's transition to her new family.Performance · Engagement and betrothal
🇮🇳 IndiaHindi wedding songs
Film and folk music that accompanies the stages of a North Indian Hindu wedding.Performance · Engagement and betrothal
🇮🇳 Lucknow, IndiaBabulबाबुल
The Hindi term for father that marks the emotional farewell of a bride leaving her home.Performance · The eve
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreBridal ChorusTreulich geführt
The Wagner opera march played for the bride's entrance at Western weddings.Performance · Procession and arrival
🇩🇪 GermanyLandshut WeddingLandshuter Hochzeit
A four-year historical pageant in Bavaria re-enacting the 1475 royal marriage of George and Hedwig.Setting · Engagement and betrothal
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Lithuanian wedding songs: Gailė Paštukaitė, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mizmar: dalbera, CC BY 2.0, source
- Polonaise: Korneli Szlegel, Public domain, source
- Landshut Wedding: Oktobersonne, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Palang pintu: Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Baraat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hausa traditional marriage: Bembety, CC0, source
- Bridal Chorus: Pierre Petit, Public domain, source
- Badchen: Unknown author, Public domain, source