BETA

My friends Tun and Zibi were lucky to have a good weather day for their well planned wedding.  Tun is a Tamil from Burma and Zibi is a Jew, born in London.  Both of them are naturalists, concern more on global warming and green house effects.  They are worried about the deterioration of nature and its environmental sustainability and thus, they wanted to have their wedding in an absolutely natural environment.

Their civil marriage took place in the Dexter Room, Oxford Registry office and that Ceremony was named as Air.  A beautiful poem written by a Ghanaian poet named Kweshi Brew was read by one of their colleagues.

“We have come to the cross-roads
And I must either leave or come with you.
I lingered over the choice
But in the darkness of my doubts
You lifted the lamp of love
And I saw in your face
The road that I should take.”

The second ceremony was the family lunch named as Earth which started with Summertime song, played on clarinet at Grove House Rotunda, Iffley Turn, Oxford.

The friends of the couple from around the world prepared and provided their country favourites in the lunch.  Fair-trade Ubuntu cola was one of the main attractions.  

Ubuntu is a programme promotes fair trade in Africa to encounter the monopolistic businesses done by giant multinational traders.  The money collected through the sale of Ubuntu products will be used to:

•    Directly support the poor producers and their communities
•    Encourage projects showing real entrepreneurship and creative ways to tackle poverty

After having a delicious lunch with various favourites around the world the guests gathered at University of Oxford Botanical garden for the ceremony called Water.  We all gathered at the bank of the garden river which is a small branch of Thames.  The guests were welcomed by offering white, red or pink roses. Bride and Groom came in Punts through the river along with their colleagues.

A meadow under the shading trees, surrounded by diversified natural flora was the spot preselected by the couple to have their water ceremony.  Blueberry, Strawberry and Mango Ice creams were served.   A rainbow ring was created by holding Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red (VIBGYOR) tapes.  In the middle of the ring bride and groom exchanged their wedding rings.
Marriage Wish of poet Khalil Gibran was read by two friends of the couple:

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

In addition, translation of a fraction of famous 2500 years old Tamil poem wrote by Kaniayan Poongunranar -“Yathum Oore Yavarum Kelir” was read:

To us all towns are one, all men our kin,
Life’s good comes not from others gift, nor ill
Man’s pains and pains’ relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise.

Another attractive event was the Rainbow Fusion.  The participants of the ceremony were given opportunity to introduce and make friendship with each other.  The couple distributed name written small gifts among guests and requested to handover them to the appropriate people.  The guests introduced themselves each other by searching and handing over the gifts to the person named.   

The Fire ceremony was the last event took place again in the Grove House Rotunda of Iffley Turn.  Couple cut the cake.  One of the attractions was very spicy Chilli Beer (a green Chilly was inside the bottle) along with many foods from around the world.

The verses of romantic Apache wedding prayer from Hollywood movie Broken Arrow were read:

May the sun brings you new energy by day
May the moon softly restore you by night.
May the rain wash away your worries
And the breeze blow new strength into your being,
And all the days of your life may you walk
Gently through the world and know its beauty.

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other
Now there will be no more loneliness
Now you are two persons, but there is one life before you.

Burmese game Toesey Toe, Dance and Music, Candle lighting, Bonfire and Magic show were the other events in the agenda of fire ceremony. 

The hearts of Tamil Burmese boy and a Jewish girl united with pure love reminds me the famous Kurunthogai poem in Tamil - “Yayaum Yayaum Yarakiyaro” translated by A.K. Ramanujam, recently displayed in the London Underground trains with the title “What He said”:

What could my mother be to yours?
What kin is my father to yours anyway?
And how did you and I meet ever?
But in love our heart have mingled
Like red earth and pouring rain.

Let’s bless the couple for a life with pouring love.