ਵਿਦਾਈ

What does vidaai mean in Punjabi? Vidaai (ਵਿਦਾਈ) means a farewell, and at a Punjabi wedding it is the bride's formal departure from her parents' home to her husband's home after the marriage ceremony. It is the most emotional moment of the wedding, when she says goodbye to the family she grew up in.

What does vidaai mean in Punjabi?

Rekhta traces vidaa to Arabic and gives it first as a general word: farewell, adieu, bidding farewell. Its second meaning is the wedding one, the formal departure of the bride from her parents' home to her husband's home. Punjabi uses the same word in both senses, so vidaai can name any fond farewell, but when Punjabis say the vidaai at a wedding, everyone knows it is the bride's leaving that is meant, and that tears are part of it.

What happens at the vidaai?

The Punjabi wedding account describes it plainly: vidaai marks the departure of the bride from her parental house. As a custom, the bride throws phulian, puffed rice, over her head, and the ritual conveys her good wishes for her parents. A Wedgate guide to Punjabi rituals describes the same handfuls of rice thrown behind her as a symbol of gratitude. It is a traditionally sad ritual: she says goodbye to her parents, siblings and the rest of her family, and her brothers or male cousins then lead her to her husband, who waits to take her to his family home. Her relatives throw coins in the wake of the procession. The wedding song lists even name the moment: Bidaigi songs are sung when the bride is being sent off in the doli.

Is vidaai the same as doli?

The two words travel together, and accounts of Punjabi weddings pair them as Vidaai/Doli, but they point at different things. Vidaai is the farewell itself, the act of leaving and being seen off. Doli names the bridal carriage she leaves in, once a palanquin and today usually a decorated car, and by extension the departure procession. A family can speak of the doli arriving or leaving, but the tears, the rice and the goodbyes belong to the vidaai.