Knanaya Marriage Rites | Nellum Neerum | Welcome Blessing

Nellum Neerum is a wedding tradition in which the newly wedded couple are blessed by the grooms mother at the entrance to the groom's house. The groom's sister holds a lighted brass lamp and a bowl of water, paddy, and leaves from Palm Sunday, symbolizing purification and fertility. The mother traces the sign of the cross on the couples' foreheads with a wet piece of palm leaf and gives them her blessing. Knanaya wedding traditions are ancient in origins and are the mixture of Syriac Christian, Judaic, and Hindu ritual practice merged into one alluding to the centuries the Knanaya have lived as a minority ethnic community in India. Each ceremony gives distinct roles to individual family members and is also accompanied by an ancient wedding or folk song characteristic of the Knanaya. This video was produced and directed by the Vellian Family of the Knanaya Archdiocese of Kottayam. It presents Knanaya wedding traditions in the modern day as well as a dramatized version of the traditions in elder days with Margam Kali Dancers narrating the ceremony.