March 4, 2019

A beautiful and disturbing photograph.

"Ahmedabad, India/Muslim brides-to-be gather for a mass wedding ceremony" (The Guardian).

From an excellent collection of photographs, here.

ADDED: Here's a completely accidental juxtaposition I caused by dropping another one of those photographs into a message to Meade and then, several minutes later, dropping in this photograph — from Twitter — of an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher:
I love the chiming colors! And the big pointy beaks are such a neat repetition.

By the way, "Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher" sounds very politically incorrect. They might want to change that. Not only are "oriental" and "dwarf" problematic words, but "Kingfisher" calls to mind the "Amos 'n' Andy" character.

45 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Man, that's gonna be one busy husband...

rcocean said...

What beautiful dresses. Some real lookers in the crowd too.

Curious George said...

Yes, let's bring those muzzies here. What could possibly go wrong? Allahu akbar.

traditionalguy said...

Was the mass Muslim brides pic taken on Dearborn, Michigan. If not, it will be soon.

rcocean said...

This reminds me that a recent of poll of Democrat voters shows they'd rather vote for a Muslim than a Christian.

Fernandinande said...

Disturbing because the groom(s) are not pictured, their voices silenced? How do you know it's a wedding? The few women you can see look too old to be brides.

Here's a real muslim mass wedding.

Curious George said...

Althouse is disturbed...as she looks for a Democrat to vote for that will allow this plague to invade our shores.

Ironclad said...

The reason for the mass weddings are that paying for a wedding party is a huge social “requirement” in that culture and can bankrupt a family. Throw in the dowry cost too - the husbands are supposedly giving the bride a financial payment in case they decide to dump them later - no alimony or other monies after a husband divorces his wife. It’s a way poor can marry without being financially ruined. Saw it in the Middle East too. Not everyone there is rich.

buwaya said...

Note: This is not radical Muslim behavior.

I have been to Muslim, and Indian weddings.

The violations of the letter and spirit of Sunni law and custom abound in this picture, and in the practice. This gathering is more the sort of thing traditional "folk" Muslim societies do, not the highly legalistic radical ones, which have little respect for traditionalist folk practices.

And the reason it is a mass wedding is because this is an act of charity. A foundation with contributions from rich people paid for this. Weddings of the acceptable traditional sort are expensive. These are poor people getting some, at least, of the acceptable wedding tradition - and this big ritualistic party thing is a folk thing, not specifically Muslim.

tcrosse said...

No wedding is complete without the Traditional Music

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ugh. Sadly they will all be forced into pregnancy soon.

buwaya said...

Imagine a similar gathering of women in veiled western bridal dress. It would look almost as odd, in the western context. In a different way of course, because in that case the costumes are familiar and these are exotic.

Nota bene, isolation of the sexes and what we think of as Muslim veiling was also common among well-off traditionalist Hindus.

The modern global Muslim fashion is very recent and quite different.

Ann Althouse said...

Here's the Wikipedia article on mass weddings. Excerpt:

"Mass weddings are sometimes preferred for economic and social reasons, such as the reduction of costs for the venue, officiants, decorations, as well as the celebrations afterwards which can sometimes be shared between multiple families. In 2011 a collective wedding ceremony in India involved 3,600 couples, including Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and Adivasi. Many of them were the children of poor farmers. In the Philippines, mass civil or religious weddings are a common phenomenon, and are often sponsored by government and charitable groups as a form of public service.Local politicians and sometimes celebrities participate as common wedding sponsors at such mass rites, which enable couples (and by extension their children) to benefit from formal state recognition of their unions. Parish churches also regularly offer collective Nuptial Masses for their low-income congregants, at times in partnership with the secular government of that predominantly Catholic nation.... The Unification Church is known for holding collective weddings, which for some couples are marriage rededication ceremonies."

Here are some photos of thousands of brides and grooms — in American-style bride-and-groom clothes — at a Unification Church mass wedding.

Art in LA said...

RE: the little kingfisher, how about "Ornamental Tall (in the Starbucks Coffee sense) Monarchfisher"?

rcocean said...

No - kingfisher doesn't bring up "Amos and Andy" unless you're over 65.

William said...

The Unification Church weddings have resulted in fewer divorces. I suppose you can't judge the success of a marriage by its durability, but the children in that marriage frequently do.

gahrie said...

They might want to change that. Not only are "oriental" and "dwarf" problematic words, but "Kingfisher" calls to mind the "Amos 'n' Andy" character.

Jesus fucking Christ! Can we please stop the endless quest to become offended?

SDaly said...

Back in the 90's, a radio station in Minneapolis held a mass wedding on St. Valentine's day in the Mall of America.

SDaly said...

Why is "oriental" offensive, but "Asian" isn't? Asia was just the Roman name for the Near East.

tcrosse said...

"Kingfisher" calls to mind the "Amos 'n' Andy" character.

Holy mackerel!

SDaly said...

I think that we should rename the continents, because the current nomenclature is too Greco-Roman centric. The "Asian" countries can get together and figure out an appropriate non-Western name for "Asia". "Africans" can find an alternative to the Roman name for Tunisia. The aboriginals in Australia can pick a new name, same for the remaining native tribes in North & South America. Europe can remain Europe, and the UN can vote for a new name for Antarctica.

Fernandinande said...

Asian-American Little-Person Dictatorfisher.

rhhardin said...

What are you supposed to call a Chinaman if not an oriental.

Infinite Monkeys said...

Kingfish makes me think of Huey Long, not Amos 'n' Andy.

rhhardin said...

Check out the New Yorker "The Mysterious East" column fillers, from the 60s and before. Usually directions written by an oriental for something or other.

Lucien said...

“Problematic” your use of the word reminds me that you should probably take a closer look at it, and its corruption by Woke folk.

TrespassersW said...

Kingfishers were called kingfishers before the character Kingfish was created. Good luck getting that changed.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

could mass suicides be the result of the same general mindset?

wendybar said...

My sister in law from San Francisco told us years ago not to say Oriental because it a word you can't say anymore (You might offend somebody I guess). I told her to come to New Jersey. There are Nail Salons called Oriental Nails everywhere. I guess New Jersey never got the memo that we can't say that word!

traditionalguy said...

The Brit PM is a Shrike. That is a small songbird that hunts mammals , kills and eats them. Shrike strikes kill Brexits.

DiGi377 said...

Kingfishers are a family of birds found all over the world. I love the name. A bird that is supremely skilled at swooping down to pull small fish out of rivers. A king at fishing. Never heard of Amos and Andy but i assume it's an old comic strip or tv show. No one cares about boomer childhood tv shows. When all the boomer generation has passed away can we use the rich image-laden name of kingfisher once more without the pc stupidity butting in?

As for dwarf, this adjective is used widely in the animal and plant kingdoms. Shall horticulturists no longer develop smaller useful varieties of plants like dwarf fruit trees? Should dwarf rabbits be exterminated on the grounds of being potential offense inducers?

rehajm said...

Kingfishers were called kingfishers before the character Kingfish was created. Good luck getting that changed.

We'll run out of people who remember Amos 'n' Andy soon enough then nobody will care.

rehajm said...

Man, one post too late...

AllenS said...

Here's a good article on the word Oriental.

LINK TEXT

Hagar said...

It was here in the US east coast that the enlightened classes dressed table legs with pantaloons so that male members of the family would not go on sexual rampages at the sight of naked "legs."

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Re. Kingfishers. Interesting how the Kingfishers (and related Kukuburras) flog their catch to dispatch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqnZODK_zH4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqgvpNQa6mE

tcrosse said...

Will we have to find another name for Sapphires?

Achilles said...

I think it is funny that people think May is a proponent of Brexit.

She opposed Brexit and was installed in the Tory party by the globalists to kill it.

She is doing an excellent job of fucking it up.

Just as she was instructed to do.

FullMoon said...



Googled Amos and Andy. Pretty interesting wikipedia article.

And, the TV episodes are available on DVD at Amazon.

Rory said...

If you think Amos 'n Andy was problematic, take a peek at Life with Luigi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNpxg76BYn8

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I'll meet your Luigi and raise you a Bill Dana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DMQJtKaXtM

Anthony said...

That is one pretty bird.

SeanF said...

Did they change the pictures around? Your link goes to number 11, which is the picture from Rio de Janeiro. The muslim brides are picture number 13.

n.n said...

The anti-nativists are in rare color.

sdharms said...

ann what gives with the PC comments? satire? cant tell with you.