UNC Sangam revives mock shaadi tradition to spread cultural awareness

UNC Sangam, a South Asian student organization, hosted Mock Shaadi in the Great Hall on Saturday. 

The word “shaadi” means “wedding” in Urdu and Hindi. A mock shaadi is a staged South Asian wedding ceremony featuring many festive and cultural elements for participants to enjoy. While no real vows were exchanged, members of UNC Sangam replicated shaadi traditions to provide students with a culturally enriching experience. 

The idea to host Mock Shaadi came while executive members rifled through a box of UNC Sangam artifacts from the late '90s and early 2000s. A Mock Shaadi pamphlet was discovered, which inspired them to reignite the tradition. Now, the exec team hopes to make Mock Shaadi an annual event. 

The event featured performances from dance groups such as UNC Bhangra Elite and UNC Chalkaa, and musical performances from Duke Deewana and UNC Bharat Sangeet. 

UNC Bhangra Elite accompanied the bride and groom as they made their grand entrances. The role of the groom was portrayed by senior Pranav Tippa and the bride by sophomore Ria Sharma. 

Roles in the wedding were informally assigned, with members volunteering for what interested them.

"No one wanted to be the bride, so I volunteered," Sharma said.

After volunteering, exec member Sharma was informed that she would be "marrying" Tippa, whom she had never met before. 

Another tradition represented in Sangam’s Mock Shaadi is the stealing of the groom’s shoes by the bride’s sisters. The groom must pay the bride’s family to get his shoes back. This was represented via a skit by the members. 

An abridged version of a traditional shaadi ceremony was performed, complete with a fake objection and followed by a dinner. Shortly after, the bride, groom and exec team of Sangam each performed a dance. The evening ended with an open dance floor. 

UNC Sangam promoted the event by maintaining an active social media presence and painting the CUBE by the Pit. They also had a table in the Pit every day leading up to Mock Shaadi. On one of these days, onlookers were invited to "pie" club members by pushing a plate of whipped cream into their faces. 

In addition to Mock Shaadi, UNC Sangam also hosts Garba, a traditional Indian dance event that has become popular with UNC students, as well as a series of mixers, game nights, trivia nights and other social events. 

UNC Sangam aims to create a space for Indian and South Asian students on campus, to give them a place where they can feel safe, Sharma said. The organization is dedicated to inclusivity, allowing students to bond over things like shared culture and childhood experiences.

“The idea is mainly to spread South Asian awareness and South Asian culture to the UNC student body, so, ideally, we wouldn’t want just South Asian people participating in our activities, we want everyone to,” Dhyey Shah, a member of UNC Sangam’s exec team, said. “So through these events, we’re able to connect with people and have other people connect with each other.”

UNC Sangam makes a special effort to cater to incoming first-years by advertising the organization near the first-year dorms. This is to promote inclusivity and to offer a sense of community as they begin college. 

“I’ve grown really close with the rest of exec [and] with cabinet, and they’re a great group of people that I wouldn’t have had the chance to get so close to if I wasn’t in Sangam,” exec member Josh Paulson said. 

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