Some photos of the vedic wedding ceremony of Arca Avatar dd and Govardhan das (spiritual names of Angie and Martin) in Varsana - an ecologic farm - near Bogota, Colombia.
Preparations of the fire sacrifice before the ceremony.
The fire sacrifice is for purifying the atmosphere and for receiving blessings.
The ceremony took place at midday.
Many flowers and fruits as well as ghee (clarified butter), purified wood, yantras painted with natrual colors and other special ingredients are used for the fire sacrifice.
The first step of the vedic ceremony is that the spiritual master unites the two families - so that they become one single family. (BR Swami Maharaja represented my parents in this case)
The members of the two families are joining their hands and the spiritual master purifies the union with water, mantras and flowers.
After that the couple takes place at the side of the fire sacrifice (agni hotra).
As a sign of adoration of the partner they put each other a flower garland. Which later will be three times interchanged as a sign of accepting the partner.
The father is giving the responsibility of his daughter to the husband.
.. and the husband is accepting the daughter as his wife - promising to take care of her for the rest of their lives.
After that the woman accepts the husband - promising to serve him the rest of their lives.
The man paints the bindhi (a red point) on the forehead of the wife - showing that the woman is now married. (like the rings)
Then, after a speech of the spiritual master about the duties and general ideas of a marriage, the fire sacrifice begins. The one leading the fire sacrifice is repeating mantras and putting ghee into the fire while everybody throws rice into the fire at certain intervals. This ceremony takes about half an hour.
Then the couple throws bananas into the fire. All these sacrifices are bringing about blessings like money, land, children, prosperity en general and others.
Finishing the ceremony the spiritual master binds the hands of the couple with a red rope as a sign that they will never seperate and that they are now spiritually bonded.
Being bound together, the spiritual master puts yogurt over the hands of the couple and into the fire symbolizing growth and prosperity.
Being now married, the couple walks 7 times around the fire while everybody is singing.
Now the husband covers the hair of the woman as a sign of protection.
When the ceremony is finished the clothing of the man and the woman is bound together with a knot by a woman who is already married many years. This knot is seperated after 7 days. The meaning of binding the clothing is that there will not be seperation between the man and the woman.
When everything is finished the custom is that the couple distributes cows, gold and food to everyone to receive the blessings of everybody and that all participants are happy. We had 300 cows and 500 gold coins to distribute and a huge amount of prasadam (sanctified food). So everyone received their share.
Then everything is done and ... photos :)
In the afternoon we organized cake for everybody. It was beautifully decorated with fruits and flowers.
Good night :)
