🇮🇳 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
🇲🇱 MaliWeddings in Mali
Multi-day Malian wedding traditions blending Islamic rites, civil law, and local customs with bazin attire.Rite · Engagement and betrothal
🇿🇦 South AfricaUmemulo
The Zulu coming of age ceremony that marks a woman as ready for marriageRite · The weeks before
🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile and 3 moreCueca
A courtship dance from Chile and the Andes where couples trace circles with handkerchiefs to reenact a rooster and hen.Performance · The eve
🇪🇬 Cairo, EgyptTahtibتحطيب (taḥṭīb)
A traditional Egyptian stick-fighting martial art that evolved into a folk dance performed at weddings and celebrations.Performance · The weeks before
🇸🇿 Ludzidzini Royal Village, Eswatini and 1 moreUmhlanga
The annual Swazi and Zulu gathering where young women cut reeds to preserve chastity and offer tribute labour.Rite · The eve
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan and 1 moreKazakh wedding ceremonyҮйлену тойы (Üilenu toiy)
The multi-stage Kazakh marriage process featuring the face-revealing feast and the Islamic religious contract.Rite · Engagement and betrothal
🇮🇳 IndiaGaye holudগায়ে হলুদ
The turmeric ceremony that prepares the Bengali bride and groom for marriageRite · The weeks before
🇮🇳 IndiaChaklong wedding
The traditional Ahom marriage system involving rice powder mandalas and ancestral rituals.Rite · Finding a match
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreHausa traditional marriage
The Islamic marriage rites of the Hausa people in Northern Nigeria and Niger.Rite · Finding a match
🇸🇿 EswatiniUmtsimbauntsimba
A multi-day Swazi wedding procession where the bride joins her husband's family through ritualised stages.Rite · Finding a match
🇮🇳 Lucknow, IndiaBabulबाबुल
The Hindi term for father that marks the emotional farewell of a bride leaving her home.Performance · The eve
🇦🇿 AzerbaijanAzerbaijani wedding traditionsAzərbaycanın toy adətləri
The multi-step family rituals of Azerbaijani weddings, from matchmaking to the henna night.Rite · Finding a match
🇮🇳 IndiaOdia Hindu weddingBahaghara (ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବାହାଘର)
The traditional Hindu marriage ceremony of the Odia people in Odisha, India.Rite · Engagement and betrothal
🇮🇳 IndiaMeitei weddingLuhongba (ꯂꯨꯍꯣꯡꯕ)
The traditional union of the Meitei people, marked by clan exogamy and specific courtship rituals.Rite · Finding a match
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreArab weddingزفاف or فرح or عرس
A series of family-centered rites and processions that mark marriage across the Arab world.Rite · Finding a match
🇮🇳 IndiaTelugu Hindu weddingతెలుగు వివాహ వేడుక
A multi-day Telugu Hindu marriage marked by seven vows around fire and family rituals.Rite · Finding a match
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreBengali Muslim weddingবাঙালি মুসলিম বিয়ে
A multi-day Bengali Muslim marriage blending Islamic rites with local folk traditions.Rite · The weeks before
🇮🇷 Tehran, Iran and 1 moreIranian weddingمراسم عروسی در ایران
A multi-stage ceremony rooted in Zoroastrianism and Islam that binds families through courtship, feasts, and sacred vowsRite · Finding a match
🇺🇦 UkraineTraditional Ukrainian weddingТрадиційне українське весілля
A multi-day sequence of folk rites, bread baking and church vows that marks the transition from maidenhood to married liRite · Finding a match
🇺🇸 United StatesNavajo wedding ceremony
A Navajo marriage ritual centred on harmony, family union, and nature inside a Hogan.Rite · The eve
🇮🇳 IndiaZoroastrian wedding
A Zoroastrian marriage ceremony featuring hand-fastening, rice sprinkling, and shared meals.Rite · Engagement and betrothal
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreEpithalamium
A poem or song written to celebrate a bride as she goes to her wedding chamber.Performance · The eve
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreAnastenariaΑναστενάρια (Greek), Нестинарство (Bulgarian)
A barefoot firewalking ritual performed by Orthodox Christian communities in Greece and Bulgaria.Rite · The weeks before
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreTuroń
A horned effigy that visits homes during Carnival to wish for fertility and collect gifts.Blessing · The weeks before
🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaGoluBommai kolu (Tamil), Bommala Koluvu (Telugu), Gombe Habba (Kannada)
A tiered display of dolls and figurines arranged in South Indian homes during the Navaratri festival.Feast custom · The weeks before
🇰🇷 South KoreaHahoe byeolsingut talnori하회별신굿탈놀이
A rare Korean masked dance-drama performed to appease the village deity Seonangsin in Hahoe.Rite · The weeks before
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Hausa traditional marriage: Bembety, CC0, source
- Umtsimba: Cat7624, CC0, source
- Weddings in Mali: HawaG, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Umhlanga: Amada44, Public domain, source
- Palang pintu: Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kazakh wedding ceremony: jerome taylor, CC BY 2.0, source
- Baraat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hahoe byeolsingut talnori: Ian Sewell, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Turoń: Museum: The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków, CC0, source
- Azerbaijani wedding traditions: Azim Azimzadeh, Public domain, source
- Cueca: Manuel Antonio Caro, Public domain, source
- Tahtib: Yasser Elrasoul, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Odia Hindu wedding: Aditya Mahar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chaklong wedding: Chiring chandan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Iranian wedding: Flickr.com user "avlxyz", CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Traditional Ukrainian wedding: Пимоненко, Николай Корнильевич, Public domain, source
- Navajo wedding ceremony: Neeta Lind, CC BY 2.0, source
- Epithalamium: Lorenzo Lotto, Public domain, source
- Golu: Ksiva21, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Meitei wedding: Dabu Leichombam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Arab wedding: 13th century artist, Public domain, source
- Bengali Muslim wedding: NahidSultan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Anastenaria: Artkostov, CC BY-SA 4.0, source