A year ago I was told of a bride who had to cancel her wedding because she was on her period. A year long preparation had to be called off at the last minute. The poor groom was left standing. The brides family were extremely religious and believed that a girl could not go under the Mandap (Hindu wedding alter) when she was menstruating, it was bad luck and the marriage would be doomed.
It is unbelievable that a period can dictate fortunes, auspicious occasions and even events in your household but such cultural beliefs exist and are taking place in homes today. I can only speak from personal experience and do not know if the same things happens within other regional cultures of the South Asian continent, but Gujratis have some really strange customs when it comes down to female menstruation.
Firstly, there is a slang term used for periods which translated means “unclean”. There is nothing unclean about a period, yet there are many things you are not allowed to do when you are on your period. You cannot go to the Temple, attend religious events or host religious and auspicious events. In our house, you couldn’t touch pickles for fear that they would go bad. I have heard that in some households, women are prevented from entering into the kitchen, have to eat on their own and are even asked to stay in their bedrooms for the first three days.
Traditionally, a woman menstruating was asked to rest by her mother-in-law as a period would be tiresome and draining. Somehow, through the decades and even centuries, these cultural habits have not changed even though lifestyles have changed. Instead they have been reinforced from fear of bad luck and fortune.
To cancel a whole wedding due to a period was a bit extreme for me. I would have been tempted to go to all lengths to hide this. However, it does lead me to wonder whether other South Asian regional cultures have similar customs and what happens in their household…
Bunty
