Women roles in weddings: ethnography of wedding rituals among Rajput in Punjab, Pakistan

Year 2014, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 32 - 45, 01.09.2014

Atifa Durrani Rana Nasir Ali Khan

Abstract

Among Rajputs wedding ceremony has own procedures and events which is carried out
through rituals. These rituals carry the symbolic meanings and symbolic representations for
the people who practice and endorse them. This article ethnographically investigates the
wedding ceremony along with the rituals performed among the Rajput people living in a small
town in central Punjab (Pakistan). The research is qualitative study with participant
observation and in-depth interviews as the main tools for collecting data. The study reveals
that certain rituals performed during the wedding days perform two major functions. Besides
providing the amusement and festivity, they produce, reproduce and reinforce stereotypical
roles of women within the community. Secondly, they help bride and groom to go through a
transformation of their status by assigning their new roles and expectations as husband and
wife.

Keywords

Weddings, rituals, women, roles, Pakistan

References

• Coltrane S. (1998) Gender and families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.