The Amchi Wedding Saga.

For those who don’t know, Konkanis are people who are the natives of Goa. But, there are few konkanis native to Mangalore, called the GSBs (Gowda Saraswath Brahmins). These were the people who fled to Udupi after the Portuguese invaded Goa.

You must be thinking why all my articles this week are about Udupi places and traditions. Well, last week I was in Karkala attending a cousin’s wedding and I thought, why not write about these things. Konkanis , also known as Amchigeles, have very interesting wedding rituals. You must be knowing most of them after Deepika -Ranveer's wedding. Yes! Deepika Padukone is a Konkani girl.

As mentioned in the previous article, north Indian weddings have 5 ceremonies. In the same way, Konkani weddings also have five ceremonies.

1. Phool malche

This is the first and foremost ceremony. Phool malche literally translates to putting flowers. This ceremony is done to confirm the match for marriage. The groom's family members (mostly the mother) is supposed to put flowers on the head of her to be daughter in law. Both the families exchange gifts. This ceremony also includes ring exchange sometimes, thus making it more like an engagement.

2. Nandi

The Nandi pooja is performed about 10 days before the wedding day. This puja is done by both the families. Normally, there is a custom that if any death takes place in the family, no auspicious occasion such as marriage , house warming or anything else should be performed till 1 year of the death. Nandi pooja is done in a way to avoid such things. After Nandi Pooja, even if there’s death in the family it won’t affect the wedding. Though, death of an immediate family member is an exception. The couple is not supposed to eat non veg after the Nandi Pooja till the wedding.

3. Phool muddi

The first thing before Phoolmuddi is Prarthane – a prayer with the respective families separately where the bride and groom take blessings from their elders. After prarthane, both the families meet each other and perform Eduru kansane. This is technically supposed to be the first wedding ritual where both the families welcome each other. The bride doesn’t take part in this, although her whole family takes part. The bride's father then brings the groom inside by holding his hand. After this, phool muddi starts.

Phool muddi is just a more elaborate form of Phool Malche and engagement. The bride and groom get blessings from the elders of the family and exchange gifts (mostly gold). Now a days, Phool muddi is followed by Sangeet. (Too much of bollywood influence, you see)

4. Vardik

The D day is finally here. Amchigele Vardik lasts for almost 6 hours, it’s very tedious but also fun if you minus the heavy jewellery and sarees and the hot smoke. There are a hell lot of rituals on the day of wedding (the next article is about that). By the end of the wedding, the bride has to change almost 3 -4 sarees and the groom has to change 2 attires. The couple has lunch at the end, where they have to feed each other. (From their mouth’s too, yeah Konkani weddings are very progressive).

5. Satyanarayana Vrath

This is the first pooja that the married couple perform together. Lord Satyanarayana is worshipped for a prosperous future. The bride performs the pooja as the newly wed and the new member of the groom's family. This marks the end of the wedding saga, although, many people also have Reception. Don’t you remember Deepika and Ranveer's five receptions?