Sitthniyan

Emotion: Playful

Occasion: Wedding Song

Setting: A wedding song in which women lovingly tease family members from the other side.

Interpretation: At Punjabi weddings, the groom’s extended maternal and paternal sides of the family tease each other in a verbal competition. Sometimes both sides of the bride’s family engage in this competition as well. This is a fun game of verbal sparring, which is a safe cultural space for expressing feelings that are normally taboo.