Unique Wedding Ritual: Serving Food With Feet! Sounds so strange, right? If this happens to anyone, then anger is certain, but if a new bride does this to her husband and the husband eats the food with love, then there is definitely a special reason behind it. Let’s know about this ritual (Tharu Tribe Customs) in detail.
- Every state and every city in India has its own unique and special identity.
- In India, wedding ceremony is a union of two families and two cultures.
- In Tharu tribe, women are given more respect than men.
In India, food is always served with respect and love. In our culture, feeding someone is considered a very virtuous act. While offering food to God, various types of delicious dishes are prepared, but have you ever wondered how you would feel if someone serves you food by sliding the plate with their feet? Now you will think what kind of a question is this? Obviously, everyone will get angry in such a situation and what can be more insulting than this? However, surprisingly, there is such a tradition in some parts of India. Yes, you have read it absolutely right! Actually, the new bride serves food to her husband by sliding the plate with her feet and instead of getting irritated or angry, the husband also accepts it with love. Let us know in this article what are the reasons behind this strange custom and where did this tradition come from.
Marriage is a special occasion in the Tharu tribe. Here, when a new bride comes to her in-laws’ house, she has to perform a unique ritual. In this ritual, the bride cooks food for her husband for the first time, but serving this food is not an ordinary task. In fact, the bride decorates the food in a plate and takes it to her husband not with her hand, but by gently sliding it with her foot. No matter how strange it may seem to you after reading this, but this tradition is given a lot of importance in the Tharu community.
Importance of the ritual of offering a plate with feet
In the Tharu community of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Nepal, there is a very special ritual during marriage. In this ritual, the bride feeds her husband by sliding a plate with her feet. The groom also performs this ritual with love. When the bride slides the plate from his feet, he first puts it on his head. By doing this, he respects the bride and shows the importance of this ritual. This ritual is called ‘Apna-Paraya’. It means that the bride has now become one of this family, but at the same time she is also connected to her maternal home.
In the Tharu community, marriage is completed with a special ritual called ‘Chaala’. ‘Chaala’ means ‘to walk’ i.e. the bride begins to go to her new home. This ritual not only symbolizes the bride’s departure from her maternal home but also indicates the beginning of her new life. This ritual is an important part of the rich cultural heritage of the Tharu community. During ‘Chaala’, not only the bond between the bride and groom is strengthened but the entire family and community come together to celebrate this special moment.
The secret of this unique custom of Tharu women: Unique Wedding Ritual
It is said that the roots of this unique custom of the women of the Tharu tribe are very deep in history. It is believed that these women belonged to a powerful dynasty. After the battle of Haldighati, when their dynasty suffered a major setback, they were forced to marry soldiers and servants.
On one hand they found life partners, but on the other hand they suffered mental agony due to the decline in their high lineage and social status. To express this mental agony and perhaps to take some kind of revenge, they started this unique tradition.
Researchers from the Department of Anthropology of Sam Higginbottom Institute of Technology and Sciences lived among this tribe and tried to know the story behind this custom. According to them, kicking the thali was a kind of symbolic protest for the women. It showed that they were grateful to their husbands, but at the same time they have not forgotten the glorious legacy of their ancestors.
