Pre Wedding Ceremonies

A few nights ago we attended a pre-wedding ceremony in the garage of the apartment building. There are four nights of wedding festivies here: two pre-wedding ceremonies, the wedding, and the reception. Earlier we attended a wedding reception. At the pre-wedding ceremonies, the bride's and groom's families take turns hosting the other family. This pre-wedding ceremony was hosted by the groom's family who just moved in across the hall from where we're staying.
Strands of white lights (like our Christmas tree lights) were hung from the top of the 5 story apartment building. Also they were hung on the walls leading up to the building. This is the typical decoration to signify a wedding. The residents moved their cars to one side of the garage to make room for the event. Cloth wall hangings disguised the garage. There were rows of plastic chairs set up like in an auditorium. At the front of the area there was a small stage or platform with a seat for the groom. There were streamers and decorations on it.
The groom's family and friends mainly wore red. When they personally invited the guests, they told them the suggested dress code. The bride's family and friends mainly wore yellow. Invitations aren't mailed here. Personal invitations are always issued. The bride's family brought clothing and toiletry items for the groom who then went inside to change.
When the bride's family arrived, they were greeted by a receiving line consisting of chldren and teenagers. They fed the bride's family candy and fruits on toothpicks. They also gave them small gifts-in this case, coffee mugs. They also threw some sort of flowers and sprayed some fake snow. In addition, they had a sort of white paste or paint that they rubbed on their foreheads.
Next we all sat down to wait while the groom changed clothes. After a while we were served dinner. (This is a bad memory for me because the food made me really sick, so I'll skip this part.) After dinner, it was time to greet the groom. This was called the turmeric celebration. Guests would file by the groom and rub turmeric on his forehead for good luck in his marriage. They would also feed him. He was surrounded by cakes, candy, and fruit. We thought he would surely have a stomachache by the end of the night!
Nadeem and I left at this point to put Kalina to bed. However, next the guests had a dance party. DJ's are new in Bangladesh and rather pricey. The dj's for this event had fancy lights and smoke. We could hear the music all the way on the 4th floor!
The other pre-wedding ceremony hosted by the bride's family works exactly the same except that the bride must appear very modest and look down the whole time that she's on the stage. Sometimes the groom sneaks into the bride's pre-wedding ceremony. The bride and groom are not supposed to see each other until the wedding. If the bride's family catches the groom, perhaps dressed in a burka or other disguise, they can do what they wish-such as feed him tons of food until he feels sick.
Thank you for continuing to pray for us! We hope that this is the week that we'll receive our US approval! Kalina continues to thrive. She has almost mastered the "razzing" sound with her mouth. She thinks it's great and has studied me very carefully while I have done this for her. She sticks out her tongue and tries to produce sound. Finally she's getting really close and is very delighted!