Thursday, 20 June, 2019
Maticoor is a new word for me. Everything I’ve read refers to women – “Maticoor night is for ladies to get away.” It talks about drumming and dancing and letting your hair down, as well as the elaborate ceremony. However, it seems that the bride and the groom can each have their own Maticoor night and tonight was the night for Moh’s family to gather in his family home to perform the puja, while over at Sharon’s the same was happening with her family.
From the Sanskrit ‘Matti’ means earth and ‘kor’ means digging. I’ll copy the whole explanation at the end of the post so read it, if you want.
In the morning, the tablecloth steaming continued, followed by me assembling wedding programs as I watched several episodes of Bewitched!
When we arrived at the Maticoor, there were drummers at the entrance of the home. They played loudly and for a long time. This is called tassa drumming and it started again after the puja and again at the wedding, then once again at the reception where the bride’s drummers and groom’s drummers joined together. I dodged them a bit – drumming and tinnitus don’t mix too well – but I loved the energy of it.
There was the usual large gathering of Krish’s family inside the house. The puja would take place in a tent in the back garden. It was pouring with rain!
Women and girls feature heavily in the ceremony. Moh sat with his mother and an aunt also stood by to help. The pundit also had a woman helping him with the various items that were brought and taken away. The prayers and chanting were quite melodic, each verse ending in Swaha which means ‘Well said’ so similar to amen. So many things were coming and going, Moh or Karna handling them and seeming to be well instructed in what to do. I’m sure I’d forget! At some point some young girls (four, although they asked for five) came onto the stage area but I can’t quite remember what they did. As well, most of us sitting watching were also female, with just a few men here and there. This all remains a bit mysterious so I need to find out more! My take on it is that Moh was being blessed and purified for his wedding.
Everyone got a bag of lakani methai (a crunchy sugary dough pronounced meh-tie) and some prasad ( a soft roux-type dough often with raisins – this tasted like ginger – and sweet spices. ) It was getting late and I was happy for the snack.
Inside, Krish’s dad Tulsi was holding court in the kitchen. There were lots of vegetarian offerings including some green-coloured cheese in sandwiches. Not sure what that was about. Best of all, two salads! I was desperate for a raw vegetable and had two big helpings. I skipped most of the other food.
Moh sat in the den with just shorts on. There was a sheet on the floor and a mixture of turmeric and oil close by. Visitors could take the paste and smear it onto his head and body. Messy! I didn’t get a turn.
There was also a young woman doing some mendhi and I did eventually get a finger decorated and also one foot but this person wasn’t as skilled and was quite slow. My decoration stayed quite light and unimpressive. I’m hooked on this now – want some more!
Moh stayed the night at his parents’ home. We drove back and slept – the next day was the big one – the wedding!
The matikore or dig dutty as it is popularly called in Guyana is essentially prayers to Mother Earth or Dharti puja and is done two days prior to the wedding. ‘Matti’ means earth and ‘kor’ means digging. The same rites are done separately at the homes of the bride and groom. At the bride’s home, her mother wends her way to a clean spot some distance from their home and to the accompaniment of the tassa drums and traditional songs offer prayers for the fertility and prosperity of her daughter’s marriage. Matikore has traditionally been dominated by the female family members. After applying sindoor, (the mark of married women) to the foreheads of the married women assembled there, female relatives would hoist the tray aloft after collecting a small sample of earth to take to the home for the puja. At her home, the bride traditionally garbed in yellow, symbolizing fertility, sits with the pandit and performs puja. She receives a protective thread or raksha sutra on her wrist and the hardi or dye is blessed. The dye which is said to have restorative, cleansing and beautifying powers is smeared on the bodies of bride and groom after the matikore.Before the bride is escorted by her mother to her specially prepared chamber where she stays out of sight until the wedding day, five married ladies or little girls engage in chumawan. The bride sits with her hands filled with rice and a gold bangle; symbols of economic prosperity. Each child or lady would take a small quantity of that rice and khus grass and touch the head, shoulders, hands, knees of the bride five times. Each time the rice is cast away ensuring all negative forces are removed from the bride’s person. The remainder of the evening is filled with wedding music and dance as the ladies, confident that no men folk are around, show off their special moves. Tassa has always been the main form of music although many persons have added recorded music to the entertainment. Vibrant traditional marriage songs are also sung by the older ladies to the accompaniment of the dholak played by a lady. All those present are treated to mithai and a light meal of channa and phoulorie.
Sharon and Mohan’s wedding – all the blogs