An ancient Myanmar tradition of the wedding ceremony in which the hands of the would-be-couple are tied with a cloth is extinct, and plans are underway to revive it with a suitable arrangement in modern time, Ko Htaketin Sithu Hein, founder of Myat Taw Win Royal Ceremonial Costume Service told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM)
Such a full-fledged traditional wedding ritual can no longer be seen today, while the ancient marriage ceremony takes a very long time, so its duration is shortened to be in harmony with modern time, he said.
His royal costume service made a documentary photo of the Myanmar traditional wedding with a hand-tying programme from the period between the late Yadanapon era and the early colonial time, and it will be released to the public with detailed information.
“In a Myanmar traditional wedding among Mandalay’s Bamar people, the couple feed each other Mingalar rice. In the hand-tying ceremony, the right hands of the bride and groom are placed on top of each other, tied with a pure cloth and sprinkled with clean water. Then a puja is performed from the founder king of the prehistoric world to the current king, including good devas or spirits,” he explained of some of the customs.
His ambition is to revive this ancient tradition in all its authenticity and his business also plans to provide the necessary services.
“At present, what we are doing is on a small scale. We cannot make full efforts yet. Right now, we have to negotiate the availability of hotels and focus only on the wedding ceremony. In a true Myanmar tradition, only the consecration programme can take the whole day. During the consecration, the Myanmar orchestra will perform and entertainment will run in parallel. The Brahmins are invited to recite Mingalar Gadas. We are trying to provide complete services. We will try to provide these services in two to three hours, not the whole day as in ancient times,” he said.
Htet Oo Maung/ZN
