Marriage is a social as well as a religious ceremony. This is a ceremony denoting happiness in every culture or religion.  As a boy or a girl reaches a marriageable age, they are ready to step into the practical life with all the valor and strength with each other’s support. Life is full of challenges so why not face them with positivity and excitement. This blog post will walk you through all the customs and traditions involved in Pakistani marriages and show you what makes them so distinctive. So, ready for the start? Read more below!

Rituals in Pakistani Marriages

Pakistani marriages and wedding ceremonies usually last up to five days, compared to the typical day or two for Western wedding ceremonies. In Pakistan different people have their own ways of performing rituals in a marriage ceremony. For some, marriages should be celebrated in a short and crisp manner where time and money could be saved.

People who followed the old custom of celebrating the marriage in two days, i.e., the function of Barat and Walima are coming to reduce it to only one. Performing the Nikkah at masjid and pooling in money for the only bigger function. Some more religious people would want to make it even easier on the girls’ side by making the Nikkah or barat function smaller and the walima reception bigger.

Another stratum of society believes that the marriage ceremony should be wholeheartedly celebrated in order to fully enjoy Pakistani marriages. They contend that since marriage ceremonies only take place once in a lifetime, one should take full advantage of it. For them celebrations start weeks before by conducting smaller functions at home and preparing for the big day. More affordable parties can spend more, especially on clothes and other accessories.

There is no harm in celebrating a marriage and even performing harmless rituals. In Islam also, its preferred that the word of marriage be spread. However, the red line comes when balance is destroyed, both regarding expenditures or in the performance of rituals. When extravagance in rituals and spending cross limits. It appears to be more of a show off than a wedding ceremony. Where nothing but praise is necessary for the effort made. Therefore, families display dowry or marriage-related items

Some white-collar workers may find it difficult to afford these kinds of expenses. Who must adhere to a string of traditions in order to appease their community and family members and make ends meet in any way possible. There are others who by nature are simple and do not like show off and extravagance. Such people don’t feel at ease when they are made to adhere to and “enjoy” these traditions. It can be simple and strengthen the bond between the two families even more if decisions are made with mutual consent in the future.

Pre-wedding celebrations

Nowadays, the pre-wedding celebrations are starting to take on equal importance to the ceremony itself in Pakistani marriages. The Dholak is the first celebration, which occurs one to two weeks prior to the main festivities. Then there is the bridal shower, where the bride’s close friends and family sing, dance, cut cake, and celebrate.

Shendi is a further ritual that is becoming more and more common among showbiz celebrities in Pakistani marriages.

Social media is also a significant factor. Your standards for physical attractiveness, love, and beauty may change as a result of social media. If someone is constantly on social media, where everything is attractive. where everyone enjoys sharing the best moments from their lives, such as wedding outfits, expansive stage décor, romantic gestures, and appreciation. Then youngsters mentally constructed a fantastical world in which they expected absolute perfection, which is impossible in the real world.

People desire elegant marriage ceremony in their ideal location. Expensive clothing, honeymoon packages abroad, wedding photography, videography, etc.

You can read one of our blog posts on Quora under the topic “Negative effects of social media on marriages.“

Some Borrowed Traditions

The traditions mentioned above, however, are rituals to celebrate Pakistani marriages. Various other situations favor one party while placing a burden on the other. If we take a look at the prevalent traditions, they are mostly demanding financial burdens from the girl’s side. For example, giving gifts to the groom’s whole family or taking breakfast for them after walima to name a few of them.

This series of gifts begins when one gets rishta and it continues throughout life. This seems fun for one side and a burden for the other. As people with well-off backgrounds only see it as a way of further extending the enjoyment days. But for some others, especially for white collared ones, who already gave their life to them, in the form of their daughter, these kinds of things might not bring that much of a fun activity.

To crown this, comes the much-debated dowry tradition. While discouraged verbally by everyone, few have shown the courage to say no to it. In the present time with growing awareness people have understood it to be un-Islamic and unethical, we still have quite a majority of people who want it as their right and wait for it for years.

Let us add here that we have a third type of people as well. Who say no to dowry but want the girls party to force it on them. They want to receive all the financial advantages that come with it while also avoiding criticism for accepting it. If they don’t succeed, they won’t leave the girl alone taking out new ways of demands. Or even making the girl suffer by not properly sufficing her financial needs.

We can take a step towards changing the celebrations in Pakistani marriages, where they can be fun for everyone and leave old practiced traditions, serving only half a party’s benefits.

Hindus and Muslims coexisted before the partition. This explains why our marriage traditions share so many characteristic features. Moreover, in Pakistani marriages, we have learnt a lot about extravagance from Bollywood movies. Which have nothing to do with real life.

Some more recent fashionistas, getting inspiration from the west, have also started bringing some of their rituals and want everyone to participate. Ignoring the fact that not all their guests will be comfortable. Some could have a conservative background. While another could have an introverted nature. All this amalgam of rituals also brings an undercurrent of dissatisfaction regarding one’s own identity.

A nation is strong when its basis is firm. While some religions like Hinduism, stand on these traditions. Islam stays different especially in following something blindly just for sake of fun. And offers a rich culture that a nation could stand on and be strong and confident about.

Well, rituals and traditions in Pakistani Marriages is a heated debate. We observe that everyone is doing their part to follow these, whether they are good or bad.

What do you think about it? Leave reviews in the comment section. We’ll wait for your analyses.

One more thing: if you’re looking for a compatible match, check out the Simple Rishta website. Service is free right now, but only for a short time. So, get advantage of the best matrimonial in Pakistan.