Search results

During a Muslim ceremony, attended by 30 guests and conducted by a notary in the bridegroom's home, Marjan and Saeed sit beneath a canopy held by two attendants while others grind sugar through it. The small sofraye aghd, spread before them, cost $500., Katrina Thomas's notes: Few Pakistanis emigrated until 1971 but half a million live in the U.S. today. In Pakistan most marriages are arranged, the Muslim men and women celebrating in separate rooms or tents. I photograph two weddings, but agree not to release photos of the arranged marriage because although the sexes celebrate together, the women of the Ahmadiyya movement, a strict Muslim sect, must not have their pictures published. The marriage illustrated was not arranged. The bride and bridegroom, schooled in both Pakistan and the West, fell in love. They are the children of international parents, each with a Pakistani father and a mother of mixed heritage. During a pre-wedding henna evening in a private apartment, they retain but reorder wedding traditions of the Sindh province. On the following day, they are married in a Muslim nuptial rite. Their wedding is celebrated at a diplomatic reception that evening.

Married outdoors in the Ukrainian Catholic rite, Irene and Nicolas, attended by their bridal party stand before two priests who officiate., Katrina Thomas's notes: Ukrainians number perhaps a million today in the U.S., and even more in Canada. When the Ukraine was under Soviet subjugation, those who settled abroad were determined to revive their culture in a new land, and pass on relevant customs to future generations. To this end they establish Plast, their scouts organization, to which both boys and girls belong, and which fosters relationships that may end in marriage. Although most embrace the Orthodox Christian faith, the weddings I am able to photograph are Eastern Rite Catholic. Before the nuptials, the parents bless their children, using bread or icons. A bridal procession follows, and at the feast, instead of sharing a white wedding cake, they have their own ritual breads, korovai, which are decorated with twigs, herbs, flowers, and symbols in dough. The celebration ends soon after the maiden bride accepts the Slavic headgear of a married woman. However, today this rite is often omitted. Ukrainians, seeking a better life, still come to the U.S.

In the Eldridge St. Synagogue, an historic landmark, Renee and Jeffrey stand under a prayer shawl, serving as the chuppah. Jeffrey wears a kittel, a white linen robe worn by married men for religious ceremonies, and in which he will be buried., Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.

The last to dance are Frima and Yosef, who hold hands but do not look at each other. For a sacred moment, the couple perform the "mitzvahtanz" for an audience of men and women who will never see them touch each other again., Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.

More than 1200 Lubavitch Hasidic families reside in Brooklyn. Yosef, the bridegroom, or "chosen" in Yiddish, has signed the "ketubah." Now he prays with eyes closed and recites the Maamor, a discourse on the spiritual meaning of marriage. For more than an hour, he is toasted by male friends and relatives sitting with him, after which everyone will leave the table in procession to veil his bride, the "kallah.", Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.

The "Rjadovyj Tanec, during which every guest dances with the bride, ends with Michele encircled by dancers. She waves Bob's feathered and flowered wedding hat, which The threw to her before The endeavors to break down successive dancing walls to capture his wife., Katrina Thomas's notes: The homeland of Carpatho-Rusyns is located on the slope of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Never having had their own state, they have lived since the sixth century as a national minority in kingdoms whose borders frequently change. And yet they manage to keep their traditional customs, marrying under gilt crowns in the tradition of Eastern Rite Christianity, accompanied by Carpathian plainchant. I photographed two weddings observing various traditions, the highlight of both being the Rjadovyj, during which everyone dances with the bride, ending with the bride's mother placing a silk matron's cap, a cepec, on her daughter's head, while guests line-dancing shoulder to shoulder close in around the new wife, forming walls through which the bridegroom must fight his way to capture her and carry her away.

At the end of the nuptial rite, known as "pelea ruom khnoevy, after which Taing Ly and Ngo will rise as husband and wife, wedding guests shower them with rose petals and hearts of palm., Katrina Thomas's notes: The Cambodians I photographed are newly arrived refugees, having fled the communist Khmer Rouge after the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975. Many came without their families, who had been killed or had remained to guard their properties. In the U.S. Khmer weddings usually take place on a single day. I photographed four, three on a single day, one lasting two days. All are abbreviated when compared to those in the home country. With little guidance, they try to keep traditions for a proper celebration but without their native substances or their own foods. Rather than falling in love, all the couples were matched by others and most weddings are conducted by their own people without the licenses to do so legally but able to marry them in the eyes of their own community.

Cap has collected his bride, Luong Le, in his car. The two of them, preceded by children, walk the last few blocks with their families and wedding guests to Cap's house for solemnizing the marriage., Katrina Thomas's notes: Under a special act of Congress, refugees from Vietnam were first admitted to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. They included ethnic Chinese, Eurasians and Amerasians born there, most of whom are Christian. Vietnamese have settled largely in Texas, and in California, the state in which I photograph them. Weddings start at the bride's house with a formal introduction of the two families, followed by bestowing jewelry on her by the bridegroom's family, and progress to the bridegroom's house to honor his family. In their home country, their own customs were influenced previously by French culture so that couples here adapt rapidly to American ways. The ethnic nuptial rite has been superseded by the Christian rite or a Buddhist blessing.

Edith and Philippe's wedding cake, devised in France, is a tall cone of caramel-coated cream puffs. It is a croquembouche, translated as "crunch in the mouth."

Patcharin's wedding dress is a gold "sivalai" of silk. Joseph wears the white jacket and blue pants of a king, jong gra bane. Both garments were brought from Thailand for their marriage., Katrina Thomas's notes: Most Thais emigrated to the U.S. between 1971 and 1990, largely to the West Coast. A Buddhist temple, known as a wat, serves as their civic center and couples may seek a blessing for marriage from resident monks. The couple makes no vows. On the morning of the wedding, they invite monks from a nearby temple to bless them. After the monks are fed and leave, the families unite the two by having the bridegroom give her jewelry and put a ring on her finger. Prior to congratulating the newlyweds, the bride's grandmother places two linked crowns of white threads on their heads, which emphasize their individual identities while joining their destinies. Well-wishers pour sacred water over their clasped hands. However, the couple is married only in the eyes of family and friends, not by law, until they make their vows before an officiant licensed by the state.