Wedding traditions of South Asia
Saptapadi and the sacred fire, mehndi and haldi, baraat and nikah: the longest, loudest weddings anywhere. 119 traditions on EveryShaadi so far.
Countries
🇦🇫 Afghanistan 7🇧🇩 Bangladesh 12🇧🇹 Bhutan 4🇮🇳 India 123🇲🇻 Maldives 1🇳🇵 Nepal 22🇵🇰 Pakistan 28🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 9
Cities and towns
On the calendar
Dev Uthani EkadashiHindu winter shaadi season (Dev Uthani to Kharmas)Magh and Phalgun wedding windowHindu spring wedding window (April to June)Akshaya TritiyaVasant Panchami as a wedding dateBhadli NavamiShubh Vivah muhuratShawwal, the month after RamadanThe winter wedding season of South AsiaMehr, the Persian autumn of weddingsRamadan
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreSvayamvaraस्वयंवर (svayaṃvara)
A ceremony where a bride selects her husband from assembled suitors or through a public contest.Betrothal · Engagement and betrothal
🇮🇳 IndiaZoroastrian wedding
A Zoroastrian marriage ceremony featuring hand-fastening, rice sprinkling, and shared meals.Rite · Engagement and betrothal
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Svayamvara: Nandalal Bose, Public domain, source
- Odia Hindu wedding: Aditya Mahar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Meitei wedding: Dabu Leichombam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sindoor: Masum-al-hasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hindu wedding: Dinesh Cyanam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source