Shaadi was a night full of food, dancing and fireworks. Photo by Bryan Malkowski.
Gathered in the Reilly room, the Butler University South Asian Student Association (SASA) hosted a mock Shaadi. Shaadi is the Hindi word for marriage, so this event was a mock South Asian wedding, including different ceremonies and rituals.
SASA represents eight sovereign nations in South Asia, but this mock Shaadi was based on the most common wedding traditions of the region. The goal of the event was to have fun, but also to share and spread awareness of their culture.
Daphne Kirby, a junior psychology and philosophy double major, served as the bride, and Aakash Yenti, a junior finance major at Indiana University Bloomington, served as the groom.
Bride, Kirby, and groom, Yenti, before ceremonial cake cutting. Photo by Bryan Malkowski.
First-year neuroscience major Rabya Mohsin is the co-first-year chair of SASA. She explained that the event was open to everyone and was not about just one country in South Asia.
“Shaadi is what we call our wedding, [so] mock Shaadi is just a fake wedding that we do,” Mohsin said. “There [are] multiple ways to do a wedding in South Asia, but this is just the common way to do it.”
The night started with dinner. The tables were decorated with gold tablecloths, candles, flowers dunked in water and henna. After being called up to eat, guests got up to pick from a large selection of dishes, including butter chicken, seekh kebabs and mango lassi.
Butter chicken, seekh kebabs and mango lassi. Photo by Bryan Malkowski.
Karman Kaur, a junior biology and anthropology double major, is the president of SASA. Kaur thinks that hosting weddings like this is fun, but at the root there lies opportunities to educate.
“By hosting this event, our main goal is from an educational perspective,” Kaur said. “Even through our presentation, we spoke about all the different countries in South Asia, all the cultures that reside in those countries.”
During dinner, Moshin gave a presentation aimed to educate guests on the differing traditions between South Asian countries’ marriages. Typically, South Asian weddings have a large number of guests, multiple days, intricate rituals, colorful festivities and are meant to be family-oriented. Depending on the country, ceremonies can differ in religion, ceremonial processes, outfits and food.
Sophomore marketing major Jada Greer is not a part of SASA, but was welcomed and enjoyed the event. One of the traditions of a Shaadi is throwing petals on the groom and bride as they walk down the aisle.
“I got to throw petals on the bride when she walked in, and that was really cool,” Greer said. “I felt like I was a part of the event, even though it’s not my culture.”
Kirby entered with a long green dress and face covering, with four girls holding a canopy over her head. Yenti was dressed in a traditional gold Kurta.
Choreographed dances from SASA members. Photo by Bryan Malkowski.
The next part of the ceremony consisted of dancing. First, the bride and groom did a short dance, followed by multiple segments of rehearsed dances, both by SASA and non-SASA members.
One of the later events included cake cutting by the bride and groom. Guests also had an opportunity to get a photo with the couple.
The night ended with fireworks launched in front of the Phi Delta Theta house.
SASA will continue to hold events open to the Butler community and Kaur encouraged students outside of the organization to attend future gatherings.
“We just want to emphasize that everyone is welcome,” Kaur said. “They don’t have to specifically be of South Asian descent.”
