From lojban+bncCLTF8YDmFRDz9_TiBBoEtAOlvA@googlegroups.com Sat Aug 07 03:57:25 2010 Received: from mail-gw0-f61.google.com ([74.125.83.61]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1Ohh5O-0003DM-V2; Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:57:25 -0700 Received: by gwj18 with SMTP id 18sf9017771gwj.16 for ; Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:57:00 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlegroups.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:x-beenthere:received:mime-version :received:received:date:in-reply-to:x-ip:references:user-agent :x-http-useragent:message-id:subject:from:to:x-original-sender :reply-to:precedence:mailing-list:list-id:list-post:list-help :list-archive:sender:list-subscribe:list-unsubscribe:content-type; bh=4skSpYUWkxtPqqoHiohPhUDRBRlchdyPOp2T3SBOLZs=; b=X8F9cTHxl91H9aWGYH5j1pqF8CDSnCdGASUN1ef5pVkkx2WfbDb3c8whXTT1gcTqoL KtKX4uzwIpUjGEQkUHhRRWng7Io/VEWJcPYDAmxBWT2/RUZifbCRgGq2StBCXs9YeRPc 6sTeuUCr+O10pDyxM95Sse+ztV/OrI7OEctYI= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlegroups.com; s=beta; h=x-beenthere:mime-version:date:in-reply-to:x-ip:references :user-agent:x-http-useragent:message-id:subject:from:to :x-original-sender:reply-to:precedence:mailing-list:list-id :list-post:list-help:list-archive:sender:list-subscribe :list-unsubscribe:content-type; b=iSAt38qteC6PaGV1hrhIDS1Fy+OVEDOQ/P1C3zj9qbYB2cswCqdFn8NW1DwhS6TG40 o+G9yxk3aJiDq5vl51cEkgBgEO6cMqxY7YXVM0l02ZujVcVLqZdQunAtSoGee1rmp8og Xz15W+xc14rGj4h266iRtibOb+ymUI8Vo5KmQ= Received: by 10.101.151.28 with SMTP id d28mr1548827ano.44.1281178611213; Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:56:51 -0700 (PDT) X-BeenThere: lojban@googlegroups.com Received: by 10.101.156.10 with SMTP id i10ls1573803ano.3.p; Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:56:50 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.101.124.9 with SMTP id b9mr1532193ann.26.1281178609695; Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:56:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: by l32g2000prn.googlegroups.com with HTTP; Sat, 7 Aug 2010 03:56:49 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 03:56:49 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <55527712-fd80-4cca-8743-6ef4203d82cc@b4g2000pra.googlegroups.com> X-IP: 119.152.13.40 References: <2da8180a-51b0-4555-9ff7-1a1b7e6f5c77@a4g2000prm.googlegroups.com> <55527712-fd80-4cca-8743-6ef4203d82cc@b4g2000pra.googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/533.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/5.0.375.125 Safari/533.4,gzip(gfe) Message-ID: <3dfd6436-e48f-4164-b293-514e43f0d9fd@l32g2000prn.googlegroups.com> Subject: [lojban] Pakistani Culture From: Ali Sajid To: lojban X-Original-Sender: ali.sajid.imami@gmail.com Reply-To: lojban@googlegroups.com Precedence: list Mailing-list: list lojban@googlegroups.com; contact lojban+owners@googlegroups.com List-ID: List-Post: , List-Help: , List-Archive: Sender: lojban@googlegroups.com List-Subscribe: , List-Unsubscribe: , Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 As far as friendships are concerned, people are very friendly. Friendships are very very important, important enough to get killed over, in extreme cases. There is, however, a certain gender segregation in friendships. There was, traditionally, no concept of friends of opposite gender. There exists a sort of courtesy between genders though. Male friends are very frank with each other, and mostly consider each other brothers. Same goes for female friends. There are unwritten rules that say that you have to help your friends however you can. This is also mirrored in our fables. Our weddings are a grand affair. Usually planned by the whole family nearly a year in advance even. Here in pakistan, the principal functions are 3. Mehndi/Sehrabandi. Barat and Nikah And Valima. I'll explain each in turn. Mehndi (urdu word for henna) is the female ceremony. This is usually done in the bride's house. All the bride's friends and sisters and female cousins are there. They apply henna to the bride's hands and arms, and sometimes, feet. Usually, the grooms female family members bring the henna and apply it ceremonially. The principal sweet in this ceremony is the "Laddo". http://laxmisree.sulekha.com/mstore/laxmisree/albums/default/besan-laddo.jpg A picture of laddo. They're yummy btw. :D Sehrabandi is the male counterpart to Mehndi. And the same as above applies, except that both males and females are there. The main event of this is the "sehra", a form of headdress, that is wrapped around the groom's head. It is somewhat signature of being a groom. :) http://www.apexlace.com/images/sehra4.gif http://www.culturesdiary.com/UserFiles/2007/8/21/p1848wmu[1].jpg http://www.weddingeventsindia.com/images/sehra1.jpg Barat is the next event. It is the function in which the groom and groom's family and friends depart from there home, traditionally to the bride's home, for the actual wedding. The bride's family prepares the reception. The groom and his company is known as the "Barat". Traditionally, when the groom arrives, little girls throw rose petals and the groom is given garlands. So is his family. The main event, here in Pakistan, muslim culture, is the Nikah. A muslim cleric, who is also required to be registered by the government, usually called by the bride's father or guardian is present. He first goes to the bride and asks her, "Do you, bride, daughter of someone, agree to be wedded to groom, son of groom's father, for the "mehar" of this much". The bride has to agree. She is asked this Three times, and if she says no at any one time, the nikah is not done. Similar question is asked of the groom. once both bride and groom agree, they are considered wedded. Until this time, both bride and groom are in separate places. The cleric then gives a short sermon, which has been the same in our wedding ceremonies in islam. It has many different sayings, highlighting the rights and responsibilities of both the partners. After that, sweets are distributed. And so are little packets containing different stuff, like almonds, dates, toffees etc, are distributed from the groom's side. This is called the "Bid". After this is the meal. Then there are different little customs, ceremonies, most of them quite fun. The couple i'll mention here are the "Joota chupai" and "Doodh pilai". "Joota chupai", literally "Hiding the shoe" is sort of a game. The bride's sisters, or female relatives, sneak upto the groom's shoes and then hide them. Hold them hostage, till the groom pays up. :D It is, however, the duty of the groom's brothers and friends to find out the place where the shoes are and rescue them. :) "Doodh pilai" is literally "Drinking the milk". Traditionally, drinking the milk on wedding day is considered good fortune. And the milk is brought by the bride's sisters. Once the groom drinks it, he has to pay up again. :D The ceremony of giving away the daughter is called the "Rukhsati", literally, "The leaving". The bride is given away under the shadow of the Quran, and a dupatta, a sort of long cloth. The next day, is the Valima. A feast by the newlywed couple. No distinctive events here. Just, people coming and congratulating the couple. I'll be back with more stuff later. :) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lojban" group. To post to this group, send email to lojban@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban?hl=en.