Mel
4-18-05, 1:08 PM
Weddings always make me cry :cry:
Indians 'Marry' Sacred Trees to Ward Off Evil Eye
CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - Residents in the Indian city of Calcutta have "married" two colorfully decorated trees in an elaborate ceremony to ward off an evil spell.
The marriage between the sacred trees -- whose trunks were decorated with red cloth, streaks of vermilion and marigold garlands -- was followed by a banquet attended by nearly 1,000 people.
"There is an evil eye that has been cast on us. So we decided to take recourse to spiritual means to ward it off," Gouri Shankar Sengupta, one of the organizers of the wedding between a banyan tree and a peepul, a kind of fig tree, said on Monday.
A spate of burglaries had hit the area recently, as well as a murder and two suicides, which many residents felt came from an evil spell. The "marriage" took place Saturday but wedding celebrations will end late Monday.
During the ceremony, a Hindu priest chanted hymns and lit a holy fire near the trees, which stand side by side.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?storyID=2005-04-18T130441Z_01_DEL20901_RTRIDST_0_ODD-ODD-INDIA-TREES-DC.XML :)
Indians 'Marry' Sacred Trees to Ward Off Evil Eye
CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - Residents in the Indian city of Calcutta have "married" two colorfully decorated trees in an elaborate ceremony to ward off an evil spell.
The marriage between the sacred trees -- whose trunks were decorated with red cloth, streaks of vermilion and marigold garlands -- was followed by a banquet attended by nearly 1,000 people.
"There is an evil eye that has been cast on us. So we decided to take recourse to spiritual means to ward it off," Gouri Shankar Sengupta, one of the organizers of the wedding between a banyan tree and a peepul, a kind of fig tree, said on Monday.
A spate of burglaries had hit the area recently, as well as a murder and two suicides, which many residents felt came from an evil spell. The "marriage" took place Saturday but wedding celebrations will end late Monday.
During the ceremony, a Hindu priest chanted hymns and lit a holy fire near the trees, which stand side by side.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?storyID=2005-04-18T130441Z_01_DEL20901_RTRIDST_0_ODD-ODD-INDIA-TREES-DC.XML :)