Here is a Haldi flower jewelry set that I made after a long time. Its quite a departure from my usual sets as its soft, sweet and elegant with pastel yellows and offwhite. In a culturally vibrant and diverse country as India, color and its multitude of expressions is what holds together the contrasting outlooks, lifestyles, and traditions. Color and its symbolism stands out and controls every aspect of life in India, be it religion (Saffron, white, green), politics (red, black, saffron), or festivals (multi colors). Color is entwined with Culture here and is an integral part of the rituals and traditions.
Color Symbolism in India
Colors like red, maroon, bright or golden yellow and green are used the most during celebrations – festivals and weddings alike. Bright, deep or dark colors are usually preferred and the only exception to that is the use of light yellow. Bright yellow is related to the intellect and is supposed to help keep you calm and cool during stressful yet auspicious occasions like weddings. It is also denotes purity, fertility and prosperity.
Light or pale yellow considered pale or sickly by western standards is considered to be the color of sanctity, optimism and cheer here. As white is considered inauspicious, during weddings white fabrics and clothes are dipped in turmeric water which results in them becoming a light yellow color and in a lot of communities (esp in south India) these dip-dyed clothes are worn as the bridal attire during weddings. As turmeric is a known antiseptic, a fabric dipped in turmeric is considered to be a symbol of a protection barrier or threshold that keeps out evil eyes and negative vibrations.
This is very interesting because apart from the yellowed white fabrics (dyed as described above) washed clothes or fabrics are considered impure and are hence not worn by the bride or groom during the wedding. Strangely, silk is the only fabric that is considered to be pure even when its not washed. Talking about wedding traditions I wrote about the Haldi or Pithi ceremony in one of my old flower jewelry posts. In the south Turmeric paste is applied to strings tied on the hand and the Thirumangalyam to emphasise not just the moralities of chastity and purity but also celebrate the fertility of a woman.
This haldi flower jewelry set in yellow and offwhite contains a simple choker, a long raanihaar, a tikka, earrings and haath phool. It would be interesting to see how this bride styles her look with my haldi flower jewelry.
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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