On 16^th March 2017, FSL-India, Kundapur organized a cultural event for its regular Long Term Volunteers. This is a monthly event, and the volunteers are usually taken to any cultural or historical places which are located in and around Kundapur.

This month, the cultural event was focused on an actual cultural experience…the volunteer was taken to an Indian marriage.

In the morning, the FSL-India group started their travel from the meeting point to the marriage hall. In front of the hall they were welcomed with lemon juice and the music of a live saxophone and drums. After drinking the juice, they went inside the hall. There were around 200 people sitting in front of a colorfully decorated stage on which the bride and bridegroom were standing, surrounded by their families. The FSL-India group had a good view of the ceremony, as they sat right in front of the stage.  After some minutes, the priest started the wedding rituals. Following the instructions of the priest, the couple preformed all the marriage rituals. The volunteer was interested to see the Hindu marriage performed.

After the ceremony, the guests started to gather on the stage to take a photograph with the newly married couple and to wish them a ‘happy married life’. The FSL-India team and the volunteer also joined the line and wished the couple all the best.  Afterwards, they moved away to have lunch in the big food hall.  There were about three different curries and two different rice preparations, even more types of vegetables and three different sweets. The food was delicious and everyone enjoyed it very much. After lunch, they traveled back to Kundapur. The volunteer said it was a worthwhile program from FSL-India as she was looking forward to have a new cultural experience and Indian weddings are quite different compared to the wedding functions in Germany. She enjoyed the marriage function tremendously.