Sumayyah Muhit, a 22-year-old student, took part in organizing a mock shaadi (wedding) through the Bengali Student Association at the New York Institute of Technology. According to Muhit, there is a lack of representation for Bengali culture at the institute. The event, which took place on February 16, was a grand affair with performers, nearly 500 attendees dressed in wedding attire, and a bride and groom selected through months of elections. The wedding attracted students from various South Asian regions, including India, Pakistan, and Nepal, as well as non-South Asian students. Muhit noted that everyone at their school seemed excited about the event.
During the event, the club’s executives took breaks to explain and narrate the customs. Muhit particularly enjoyed sharing Bengali traditions, such as the gate-holding tradition where people playfully block the groom’s entrance and a day-after ceremony from her hometown of Sylhet in Bangladesh, where the bride comes home and cuts fish. Muhit mentioned that many attendees had little knowledge about the country of Bangladesh or its existence as an Asian country.
Mock wedding events have been around in different forms for many years. Fraternities and sororities often host parties where students dress up as brides and grooms. In July 2022, a musical group called “Betta Boyz” organized a large mock Nigerian wedding at a banquet hall in Calgary, Canada. Similar events are popular in South Asian colleges as well. For instance, students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan organized an elaborate mock shaadi in March, which gained widespread attention on Twitter and TikTok.
The demand for these events is influenced by pop culture. Rijuta Mehta, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto specializing in post-colonial studies, suggests that Bollywood movies, reality TV shows like “Indian Matchmaking,” and extravagant wedding features in magazines all contribute to the enthusiasm surrounding weddings. Mehta emphasized the presence of a media industry built around glamorous and luxurious weddings, creating a widespread fascination with such events.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
