10 Popular rituals and traditions of Marathi matrimony

Pre Wedding Ceremonies:

1. Lagnaach Bedior

This ritual prevailed earlier while their grand families organised a Maharashtrian wedding. The time and date of the wedding are then decided by the family priests.

2. Sakhar Puda

This is the official event of Marathi matrimony, marked with Sakhar, or sweets. The groom's mother applies Haldi-Kumkum on her saree, jewelry, and Sakhar Puda, or sweets, to the bride's forehead as a blessing and a gift.

3. Kelvan

This ritual is usually accompanied by meals with family and friends.

4. Halad Chadavane

This Maharashtrian brahmin matrimony version of Haldi is performed by the same married women from Muhurta Karane. They use the haldi paste on the face, shoulders, hands, and feet of the bride with mango mats.

Wedding Ceremonies:

5. Gurihar Puja

In Gurihar Puja, both of them worship the goddess Parvati for their fulfilling future, wearing wedding attire. The mother's uncle provides her with a little rice, and she presents it to the deity.

6. Antarpat

The groom reaches the Mandap and is in a marriage position. In front of the bride is hung an Antarpat, or a curtain, which restricts his view of the bride opposing him.

7. Sankalp

The bride goes then into the Mandap as the priest sings with the musicians the Mangalashtakas, or holy vows.

8. Kanyadaan

The bride's father offers his daughter's good wishes to the bridegroom. The bride vows to eternally love and honour her wife.

9. Saptapadhi

The pair circle the holy fire seven times. The bride must tap with her right foot seven betel nuts and put them on a small mound of rice.

10. Karmasamapti

The pair praise Laxmi Pujan until the flame is exhausted. The groom provides a new name for the bride. Eventually, the bride's brother twists his ear carefully to alert him of his Marathi brahmin matrimony responsibilities, and in the end, the pair takes every blessing.

Typical Maharashtrian weddings are very simple affairs. The focus is on following the customs to the core. Compared to other parts of India, Marathi weddings are very simple. The majority of Marathi wedding customs are vedic in nature (especially in Marathi Brahmin weddings). Some customs are different in other sub-castes of Marathi. The extravagance and lavishness are very low in Marathi weddings compared to other parts of India. Actually, every ceremony and custom in a Marathi wedding has its roots in the Vedas. mordenization is also coming up nowadays. But basic ceremonies in general are the same and are very simple and traditional.

Maharashtrian weddings are simple because:

Occupation

If we have a look at Maharashtra, it has very few natural calamities and is safe for farming. The drought is also recent; otherwise the land in much of MH is fertile. So, traditionally, most of the people were farmers and turned into warriors when needed. Farmers and warriors don't earn much. That's why most of the Maharashtrian population couldn't afford lavish weddings from the start.

Low profile mentality

Values are more important than money, is the motto of many people here. Even if they are rich, they remain low profile and are choosy about where to spend their money. You can pick up any star like Nana Patekar, Rajnikant, or Sachin. They love to remain simple or low profile.

Against dowry

As the community got more and more educated, the dowry system was kicked out of society. Dowry is now only prevalent in the lower or uneducated classes of Maharashtrian people. Most of society doesn't demand dowry, which we see is still prevalent in many parts of India.

Need for education

Instead of spending 50 lakhs on a wedding, you can invest that money in your daughter's or grandchildren's education! That will be much more beneficial. No one is going to remember whether they had palak paneer or mutter paneer at your wedding. So, out of 50 lakhs, we spend only 10 or 15 on weddings and the rest on education.

Equality

Spending money doesn't depend on gender. The girl's family alone is not burdened with the cost of the wedding.

Reference:
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Marathi-weddings-so-simple