ABSTRACT
The wedding ritual moves through a series of several key transformative phases, each associated with a named rite. The joke bargaining with the mother's brother after the ritual bath, and with the bride's sisters after the nikah, the wedding contract-signing ceremony, are key performative acts which effect the final transition of both bride and groom from maternal nurture to adulthood and conjugality. The mystical notions embedded in the wedding ritual find expression in the singing of the young girls during the mehndi rite. Regarded symbolically, the emphasis placed by Pakistanis on sexual chastity and female seclusion makes marriage inherently problematic since it involves the breaking of a taboo hitherto assiduously safeguarded: the total sexual exposure of a son or daughter to a formerly prohibited person. The clown objectifies the disgust felt by the women at such a marriage, in which youthful romantic love is absent, and the bride is treated as a chattel, given for her sexual and child-bearing services.
