Punjab was
once known as the granary of India; the state in India, as well as the western part which became part of Pakistan, grow a variety of crops and fruits and the highest yield of wheat on the sub-continent. Punjab means "land of the five rivers," the Indus, Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Jhelum rivers, with a huge mass of water flowing through this region making its soil very rich and fertile. As in most other cultures that originate in an agrarian society, Punjab has a very vibrant extrovert expression of joy and fun through its folk dance forms, the best of this expressed through the Bhangra.Bhangra is a dance celebrating the harvest, the coming of spring.....it is performed on Baisakhi-di-raat, the night of Baisakhi; it expresses joy with very exuberant free movements of the body and hands, and has come to symbolise the Punjabi spirit.
At Punjabi/Hindu weddings the groom rides a splendid horse to the bride's house..... he is preceeded by a brass band playing favorite Indian tunes and followed/surrounded by his relations, friends and guests, all bedecked in colourful turbans and some of them dance the bhangra or simply dance their way to the bride's home!!! (most Hindu weddings in all regions of India have this custom where the groom rides on a horse to the bride's home to "claim" her and those in the procession dance their region's dance, but here too Bhangra is a favorite!!
The picture here portrays the wedding of Abhishek, bollywood actor and son of India's great actor Amitabh Bachchan- mid left of pic.-grey beard and in a saffron turban (with a man in red turban on his left.)
see this link
Youtube videos here courtesy, Ravi. Thank you!
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