Like people belonging to all other religious communities, castes and tribes, wedding ceremony is one of the greatest social and ritual traditions maintained by the Maithili Brahmins and the wedding parties are considered as great social gatherings that are attended by large number of people. Maithili Brahmin wedding ceremonies include several steps or rituals starting from the pre-wedding period to post wedding period. Names and some detailed information regarding those rituals are given below:

Pre-wedding rituals:

• Siddhant tradition
• Arrival of the groom
• Kul Devi shrine
• Gauri puja
• Otangar custom
• Nana Yogin ceremony

The process of wedding in case of Maithili Brahmins starts with the Siddhant tradition. Siddhant tradition is a formal ceremony where a panjikar is called to fix the date and timings of wedding by seeing the panji and the horoscope of the bride and the groom. It is customary for the panjikar to accept the wedding of the bride and the groom on the tar patra and after that the date of wedding is fixed according to Maithil Panchang (traditional Lunar calendar)

Arrival of the groom is a very important part of Maithili Brahmin wedding traditions. One the day of wedding the women members of the bride’s family wait at the main entrance of their house for greeting the groom. When the groom arrives with groom party, a decorated kalash and an ox yoke are placed at the entrance and he is given a warm welcome and the women lead the groom party to the main wedding venue. Then an assistant of the bride (Vidkari) steps in and welcomes him with sandal paste which is followed by a ceremonial bath. After the bath the groom wears the traditional dhoti and the jenui (sacred thread). The bride is then blessed by the washer man’s wife as she is believed to be suhagin forever. This is because the Maithili Brahmins believe that the wife of a washer man never becomes widow. It is customary to get some yoghurt touched to feet and hair of the washerwoman and then it is given to the bride to eat.

The arrival of groom is followed by a visit of the Kulk Devi Shrine by the bride and the groom. After the visit Gauri Puja is performed and the bride offers prayers to the Goddess and thanks her for giving her a good husband. A betel nut placed on the top of a clay elephant represent the Goddess.

The next step is the Otangar custom where eight Brahmin crush crush some ice symbolizing the marriage as a combination of seed or bloodiness with patrilinages in new ways. Bioth the bride and thegroom participate in this ritual

Nana Yogin Ceremony is the next and the last step of the pre-wedding session. It is a ritual which is performed by the ladies. It is customary to perform an aarti of the bride and the groom leaves and flowers.

After all these rituals are performed, the wedding commences. the first step of wedding is the kanyadaan tradition where the father of the bride places the hand of his daughter in the hand of the groom and requests him to take the responsibility of the bride. Kanyadaan is followed by sindurdan where the groom marks the forehead of the bride with red sindur. After that the clothes of the bride and the groom are tied together and they take seven rounds of the holy fire. This is called Saptapadi custom.