Indian wedding glossary · After the wedding
What is Kanakanjali?
Also written: কনকাঞ্জলি
Kanakanjali is the Bengali farewell ritual where the bride, as she leaves, throws a handful of rice and coins over her shoulder into her mother's saree without looking back.
- Who keeps it
- Bengali Hindu families.
- When
- The morning after the wedding, as the bride leaves her parents' home.
About Kanakanjali
What should you know about Kanakanjali?
The gesture is said to thank her parents for raising her and to wish that their home stays full. The bride does not look back after it, and the moment is famously emotional.
It is the Bengali counterpart to the rice thrown at a North Indian vidaai. The bride's mother holds out the end of her saree to receive the rice, and the bride then leaves with the groom for his home.
In the order of functions
Where does Kanakanjali come in an Indian wedding?
The morning after the wedding, as the bride leaves her parents' home.
- Before the weddingFixing the match, the engagement, the date and the card.
- The functionsPujas, haldi, mehndi, sangeet and the family days before the wedding.
- Wedding day ritualsFrom the baraat to the pheras, nikah and anand karaj.
- After the weddingVidaai, the new home, the reception and the first visits.
Planning your own days? The free wedding function order planner puts your functions in a sensible order with dates.
On the card
What do families write on the invitation for Kanakanjali?
Rarely printed; it is part of the bride's departure.
Related words
Words that go with Kanakanjali
- Vidaai
Vidaai is the farewell of the bride from her parents' home after the wedding, when she leaves with the groom for her new home.
- Bou bhaat
Bou bhaat is the Bengali reception at the groom's home, the day the new bride serves rice to his family for the first time and the groom promises to provide for her.
- Shubho drishti
Shubho drishti is the Bengali ritual of the auspicious first look, when the bride, carried on a wooden seat, lowers the betel leaves covering her face and she and the groom look at each other.
- Sindoor daan
Sindoor daan is the moment in many Hindu weddings when the groom applies sindoor, red vermilion powder, in the parting of the bride's hair for the first time.
- Doli
A doli is the palanquin that once carried a bride from her parents' home to her new home, and "doli" is still the word for the bride's departure at vidaai.
Questions
Kanakanjali, answered
What is Kanakanjali?
Kanakanjali is the Bengali farewell ritual where the bride, as she leaves, throws a handful of rice and coins over her shoulder into her mother's saree without looking back.
Which families celebrate Kanakanjali?
Bengali Hindu families.
When does Kanakanjali happen in the order of wedding functions?
The morning after the wedding, as the bride leaves her parents' home.
What do families write on the invitation for Kanakanjali?
Rarely printed; it is part of the bride's departure.
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