Escalating expenses, changing landscape of marriage customs in Kashmir
The traditional Kashmiri weddings that were once celebrated with simplicity and modesty have now been replaced with elaborate ceremonies and luxurious expenditures
Syed Fiza Masoud Bukhari
Marriage customs in Kashmir have a rich history, strongly connected to cultural heritage and family ties. However, in recent years, these customs have experienced significant changes, influenced by a variety of factors, including economic shifts and growing societal norms.
Kashmiri marriage customs have experienced a significant change, and families are now facing an increasing financial burden. The traditional Kashmiri weddings that were once celebrated with simplicity and modesty have now been replaced with elaborate ceremonies and luxurious expenditures, which have become the new standard. Weddings today are represented by lavish venues, elaborate feeds, lavish and expensive attire, lavish dry fruit and sweet boxes, an increase in the variety of refreshments, wazwan and dessert items, costly singers and dancers, and other costly additions, leading to a significant increase in the overall expenses of weddings. Families are experiencing financial problems due to the increasing prices, which make it difficult for them to meet societal expectations. Due to this, families have to face financial stress and indebtedness. These growing customs and expenses are killing the actual modesty of our traditional Kashmiri wedding, making it more stresseful and complicated.
The cost of weddings has risen so much in Kashmir and is becoming a major reason for families to delay their children’s marriages due to financial difficulties. Families have to face societal pressures to attend certain modern, lavish wedding ceremonies. This is becoming the major issue of late marriages in Kashmir. Many individuals, especially women, face the problem of late marriages because of the increasing expenses of weddings, which cause them to remain unmarried for long periods, leading to worries about social approval and fulfilling family expectations.
Marriage customs in Kashmir are changing, affecting many families economically and cultural traditions. Weddings now focus more on material aspects, making it difficult for people, especially poor people, to meet these standards, causing them stress, depression, and indebtedness. These lavish weddings also cause many people to experience extreme stress and depression, causing heart attacks or suicidal attempts or thoughts. Due to this, many people lose their lives. The cultural and simple sense that once represented Kashmiri marriages is at risk of being weakened. The marriage rituals are losing their authentic traditional sense, as ceremonies become more about display and less about preserving and focusing on cultural heritage.
While the evolution of marriage customs in Kashmir presents numerous challenges, it also offers opportunities for reflection and adaptation.
Families should prioritize and include modesty, simplicity and inclusivity as alternative approaches in wedding ceremonies.
Initiatives should be taken to improve financial literacy, and decreasing societal anticipations of weddings can help reduce the load on families and encourage marriages at an earlier age. Also welcoming the change while still maintaining their cultural traditions, simplicity, and inclusivity, not making it a cause of late marriages, depression, pressure, and financial stress. Kashmiri people can adapt to the changing terrain of marriage customs with strength, resilience, stability, and honesty.
Kashmiri communities can work together to create weddings that are fair, meaningful, easy, less lavish, and sustainable for everyone, including the poor and future generations. By fostering such initiatives, we can make it easy for everyone and decrease the number of late marriages.
Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.
