Western Traditions that became popular within the Indian Culture
There is no doubt that Indian Culture is one of the richest and mesmerising cultures of all. All the rituals, traditions and festivals of India are colourful, lively and full of energy. However, some features of western cultures caught the eye of us Indians and have thus been adopted by the people of India over the last few decades.
Cake Cutting
Yes, you read it right. Cutting of a cake to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries or any other event was never a part of the Indian Culture. Indian sweets, or locally known as Mithai was the centre of any celebration, along with a huge feast that featured many delicacies. Indians have adopted the tradition of cutting cakes so well that it is an essential part of every celebration. We are at the point where the first thought that comes to our mind when planning a birthday or an anniversary party is the cake.
The latest trend that has been visible in the nation is the introduction of Wedding Cakes to traditional Indian weddings. You can get a customised cake that is big enough to feed an entire wedding venue from India Cakes. They offer many different flavours along with designs for you to select from to find the cake that suits you best.
Destination Weddings
Indian Weddings have always been one of the liveliest occasions and are nothing less than a festival. All the glitter and decoration, the music and the significant number of people invited make it one of the most unique wedding cultures on the entire planet. The Indians have grown fond of the idea of Destination Weddings, and the instances of Beach weddings have grown up substantially in the last couple of years or so.
Beach weddings are a unique experience that was not part of our Culture and is a western influence. If someone wants to have just a quiet ceremony with the closest friends and family, they opt into having a beach wedding. The sunset, the ocean, the landscape, the atmosphere, the photographs and the entire experience elevate the wedding to something that is out of this world. It is like a vacation for everyone who attends the ceremony; they can enjoy the wedding as well as go sightseeing and relax. This trend of having non-traditional weddings has really caught on and something that is unique and exciting and a cheaper alternative at the same time.
Cocktail Parties
The traditional Sangeet has gotten a western twist to introduce cocktail parties. Gone are the days of just a couple of cousins dancing to Dhol being played in the background, Cocktail parties have replaced them with a lounge party with drinks and dancing. It is a great way to celebrate one last time as a Single before you finally step into the married life.
It involves putting on your dancing shoes and just letting loose and having a good time with your friends and your sisters in a club with some cocktails. Many people combine this with Sangeet while others choose to have it as a separate event.
Grand Proposals
We as a society are finally moving away from the horrible trend of arranged marriages, and we couldn’t be happier. With the shift of the society towards love marriages introduce the concept of proposals.
A grand proposal is something that has always existed in the western cultures but only recently been adopted in the Indian Culture. The planning of the entire scenario of when a person pops the question of marriage to their girlfriend or boyfriend is the latest trend. A lot of people get inspired by the fancy proposals we’ve all seen in Hollywood movies while growing up. The tradition of getting down on one knee and pulling out the ring has become famous in India thanks to the western influence.
Bachelor Parties
Men are never on the backseat when it comes to having fun. Bachelor parties have always existed in the Western Culture as the last time a man gets to have a fun time as a bachelor with his close friends. This trend has also made its way across the ocean to India and has been enjoyed by many people. Bachelor parties involve getting drunk and having fun with your friends one last time as a single man before you finally step into your married life. It is often clubbed together with poker or some other card game.
Giving the Bride Away
The weddings in the west have a tradition known as the giving away of the bride. This involves the bride walking down the aisle with her father towards the groom who waits while the band plays the music. The bride bids goodbye to her father and goes to stand next to the groom, where they recite their vows and get married.
This tradition has also been adopted by the Indians. Where the traditional Indian weddings had very minimum involvement of the father, this new tradition makes the ceremony even more special and sentimental. It symbolises the journey of a father and daughter from her childhood into adulthood. Both of them get to share an intimate and personal moment together as she moves into a new chapter of her life, one of the most important ones, her married life. The father wishes her daughter the best of luck, and the groom assures the father that he will take good care of her daughter and his soon to be wife.
Traditions and cultures are what make us unique and special, make us feel emotions and differentiate us from robots. It is essential that we share and adopt new traditions so that we can experience new cultures and enjoy new traditions.
