Archive for December 15th, 2009

The Beauty of an Indian Wedding Ceremony

The main wedding ceremony is preceded by two major events. One is the engagement ceremony and the other is the Mehendi or Sangeet ceremony. Both the occasions are celebrated with music, dance and merriment. The main ceremony begins with the arrival of the Baraat. It includes a procession where friends, family members and the relatives of the groom take part. The members of the Baraat are called the Baraatis. There is a lot of music, dance and enjoyment in this gathering.

Traditional Indian wedding ceremonies are a grand affair. The number of people attending a wedding could be anywhere between 500 to 1000. Here, the sanctitude of the ceremony is preserved through various traditional rituals, and is accompanied by lots of entertainment, fun, colorful dresses, delicious food, music and dance. One can see lots of variations in the Indian wedding traditions according to the cultural community, religion and region. However, most of the basic ceremonies remains unchanged.

When the Baraatis reach the wedding venue, the brides family gives them a warm welcome. The groom can enter the venue only after the brides mother performs a ritual called Aarti in front of the groom. Soon after the entry of the groom, the Jaimala ceremony takes place where the bride and groom meet each other and exchange garlands. Once this ritual is over, the guests and relatives presents the couple with wedding gifts and congratulate them.

Then, comes the most important section of the wedding, where the bride and the groom exchange vows in front of God while chanting slokas (hymns) with the priest. After that the Phera ritual takes place where a knot is tied with a part of brides dress and the grooms dress, and they move around the ceremonial fire for seven times. Each round or phera has its own significance. In the first three rounds, the groom follows the bride which signifies that the bide will take charge in the earlier part of their life, and in the next four rounds the groom leads which means he would lead in the later part. In some communities, there is a ritual of putting sindoor on the brides parting of the hair and a necklace called mangal sutra around her neck. Most of the married Hindu women are supposed to wear sindoor in their hair parting for the rest of their married lives.

The ceremony is followed by feast in which the most sumptuous food is served. The best possible delicacies are prepared for the occasion. The food largely depends upon the region to which the couple belong to. Like in some communities, only vegetarian foods are served, while in others you will find all types of food. Another interesting feature of the traditional Indian wedding ceremony is the games. Hiding the Shoes is the most popular among them. It is a kind of prank played by the brides sisters on the groom. Before the start of marriage rituals, as soon as the groom removes his shoes, his sister in laws hide them somewhere. Later, they demand money from the groom in exchange for his shoes. Lots of negotiations and bargaining takes place between the two parties until they finally reach an agreement. The process of the bargaining is the part where there is lots of fun and everyone enjoys a lot.

The common feature of all Indian wedding ceremonies is that both the parties take the best possible efforts to make the event a successful one. It is not just a celebration of marriage between two people, rather it is a joyful occasion to celebrate the unification of two families.

About this article.

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How to Find The Best Paid Surveys

There is a lot of money to be made on the Internet. The rapid communication made possible by the Internet means that billions of people can now buy and sell things amongst each other easily. The biggest market is for information. The Internet marketplace never sleeps. At any hour there are millions of people connected, most are looking for information; many are looking for ways to buy and sell or merchandise.

Almost all of ways to make money on the Internet demand certain skills, know-how, experience and significant investment in training and setup costs. There are still some exceptions where almost anyone can get started and make money.

One exception is filling out the questionnaires for surveys that pay. You can do this part-time in your home or from anywhere with an Internet connection.

You see, large companies spend billions of dollars on market research every year. They need to know what consumers prefer and why so they can improve their products and services, develop new products and measure the effectiveness of their advertising.

They hire marketing research experts to measure consumer opinion and get the info they need. Opinion surveys are one of the primary tools market researchers use to measure public opinion. The cheapest, quickest way to get surveys out and the answers back is via the Internet. By using the Net they can get answers in only a few hours, with no mailing cost! There are now hundreds of surveys being made every day!

So with thousands of surveys going out, where in the world do they find people to actually fill out the forms and complete the surveys? Easy! They PAY them! They pay them enough to make it well worth their time to fill out their surveys! Sure, there are no-pay surveys that you will want to avoid; you want only the earn money surveys, the ones you get paid for.

And that is why, if you have enough technical skills to be able to send and receive e-mails, you can make money, even very good money on the Internet. There are companies like Express Paid Surveys that compile lists of survey-makers and make it easy for you to find online surveys that pay.

by-- Consuela Ulate

Creating Creative Rug Pads

Overtime, even the most durable rugs show signs of aging. Obviously this is like www.RugPads.org. While this could be done, it is not something that you want to do if you want the job completed the right way. A rug pad can serve the same purpose for your rug.

Rug pads provide extra cushioning. Even if you have a hand knotted rug with a high number of knots per square inch and have difficultly seeing the holes, they are there. But has little, or nothing, to do with Oriental rug pads usually. And while you may not notice this early on, as time goes by, you will surely be able to tell that your rug is beginning to wear out.

Replacing wall-to-wall carpet is expensive and very time consuming. What about safety? Have you ever walked on a rug - especially on a runner - and have it slip underneath you? Have you ever tripped on a curled up edge of a rug walking into a room? In these days of ready law-suits, the last thing you want is a hazard waiting to happen - most importantly to keep you and your family safe, but also to prevent unfortunate accidents for guests. This is similar to all-purpose carpet rug pad frequently. Not only is this going to look bad, but it can be very dangerous at the same time.

Another great thing about rug pads is the fact that they help prevent bacteria from building up in your home. There are different rug pads for hard surfaces such as ceramic or hardwood, for various types of carpets, and for indoor or outdoor use. This may only be a thin layer of protection, but you will definitely be able to notice the difference when you are walking in your bare or sock feet.

Rug pads reduce the number of falls and slips. You don't want the rug pad to show, so it should be cut to be at least 1/2" smaller all the way around. It is better to be safe than sorry. The benefits of rug pads far exceed the inexpensive price of acquiring them as they are very affordable.