Bengali Muslim wedding

Like many non-industrial societies,[2] in Bangladeshi culture, marriage is seen as a union between two families rather than just two people.[3]

Within Bangladesh, arranged marriages are arguably the most common form of marriage and are considered traditional in society.[4]

A cultural wedding is arranged by ghotoks (matchmakers), who are generally friends or relatives of the bride and groom's parents. The ghotoks facilitate introduction of the bride and groom's identity to respective parents. Families traditionally seek bride and groom matches from the same religion and good social standing, and never allow unemployed men to become grooms. In the case of an arranged marriage, if the aforementioned 'compatibility' factors are duly matched, only then is the pairing deemed an ideal match. Apart from arranged marriages there are also love marriages and semi-arranged marriages which are based more upon the preferences and wishes of the partners than strict traditional norms, though love marriage is forbidden by most of the families and inter-gender friendship is frowned upon by the society.[4][5][6]

Once the arrangement is done, the planning of the wedding itself is done by parents. They usually start the planning the wedding venue many or few months ahead or in some cases some weeks ahead.[3][7]

The wedding ceremony (Bengali: বিয়া or বিয়ে biya or biye) follows the Gaye Holud ceremonies. The wedding ceremony is arranged by the bride's family. The groom, along with his friends and family (Borjatri), traditionally arrive later in the evening.

The groom is sent a car from the bride's side and he rides inside it with two elder male relatives, one from the bride's side and another from his own family (called his Borkorta), as well as the youngest male member from his family dressed as a groom, (called his Neet bor similar to the "best man" in western traditions). Before leaving for the wedding venue, the groom is blessed by his mother and he formally seeks her permission to begin a new life with his soon-to-be "better half". The groom's mother in a Muslim wedding leaves along with the groom and takes him to the Bride's house.

A traditional Bengali Muslim Bride on her wedding day in Bangladesh

However, in contrast to the Hindu ceremony, in Muslim ceremonies the groom's mother presents the bride with jewelry and sarees and then she goes to change into her wedding saree and jewelry. Later the groom and his father and along with the bride's father then meet to sign the official mahr contract ritually giving the Bride a set amount of money as her dowry.

Groom signing the marriage documents

In a muslim ceremony the bride and groom are seated separately along with family and friends of the same gender each bride and groom with a huzur who asks both if they accept the other as their partners and if they say "qobul" (meaning I accept) then they sign the wedding document and are officially married and then seated next to each other and ask for the blessing of their family and God. Then music begins to play and food is served and women especially from the groom and bride's side of the family dance and take picture and talk with the guests.

The next morning (preferably before noon), a "Bashi Biya" or is held, and the new couple leaves for the groom's house that evening. This is known as the bidaay (lit., "goodbye or farewell") ceremony.

When the bride is greeted by the groom in the morning of "Bou Bhaat", a ritual called "Bhaat Kapor" is initiated by the groom where he gifts the bride with essential accessories of a married woman, sari and other auspicious things on a plate of silver (these items are given by husband only and not by in-laws of bride); nowadays they also use other metals like brass etc. This signifies that the groom would hence be taking care of all the needs and requirements of his bride from that day onwards. After receiving all these items from her husband, the bride takes blessing from her husband and hence begins the rituals of "Bou Bhaat".

In the past, weddings would take place in the wife's home as community centers were not available. Many people would be invited to the wedding. In the villages, in the past, the women would sing geet, a traditional type of song sung at weddings and dance. Nowadays, modern music has taken over the geet and most of the weddings are held at community centers.[3] Nowadays, some weddings are made as a joint program where the biye and boubhat are arranged together and jointly sponsored by the parents of both the wife and the husband.

The Chittagong region has some really unique traditions than Bengali traditions of other divisions of Bangladesh. One of the unique wedding rituals of Chittagong is "Boujōrni" (Bengali: বউজড়নী) or "Joragantha" (Bengali: জোড়া গাঁথা). There's another event in Chittagong's Bengali culture which takes place at the night before the bride gets to the in-laws house after marriage called "pansholla" (Bengali: পানশল্লা) and it is observed by both Muslim and Bengali Buddhists. Just like how the groom, along with his friends and family, traditionally arrive later in the evening and which is called "Borjatri" (Bengali- বরযাত্রী), in Chittagongian society there's another tradition which is similar but instead of groom side it's the bride side and it's known as "Sōari" (Sawari) (Bengali: সোয়ারী). The word "Sawar" is a word which means "ride" and it's used among South Asian communities. It is believed that because the bride used to ride on a "Palki", it is called Sawari. The "Borjatri" is known as "Boirati" (Bengali: বৈরাতী). The people from the "Boirati" get served by "Duruch pōlao" (Bengali: দুরুচ পোলাও) which is a type of Bengali pilaf originated in Chittagong. The "Duruch" is made by marinating whole chicken with Bengali spices then it gets burned a bit directly on flame and then fried in oil. And another dish is called (Bengali: নুন্নুচ) "Nunnuch" and it's a type of curry.

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  Wedding celebration
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  A traditional Bengali bride on her Gaye Holud
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  Groom and bride
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  Bride with family members and relatives
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  Groom is praying according to Muslim marriage rituals
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  Traditional bride
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  Bride's hand with a large ring
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  Bangladeshi newly married couple
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  Wedding celebration in Dhaka
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  Fun in Gaye Holud
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  Bride is ready for ceremony
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  A Bengali Muslim groom in traditional Sherwani

• Bengali Hindu wedding
• Gaye Holud
• Bou Bhat
• Culture of Bangladesh
• Culture of Bengal