Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/44

28 and a very large amount of money which could be better utilised is wasted on this day—in smoke, as an ironical Tamil proverb very well puts it, Kasai Karwakkade banam vangi sudu—"Do not waste your money, buy crackers and fire them." Pipers and drummers visit every house which celebrates this feast at about 3 in the morning and play upon their instruments for a few minutes and go away. This is of course a convenient arrangement to awake the inmates in time. But they turn up again in the morning to demand presents; the peons, the house servants, the sweeper and the scavenger, where these exist, must have their bakshis on this day. These are minor indents on one’s purse which is, however, easily and gladly managed. But the major indents are the costly presents to the bride or bridegroom as the case may be. The bride’s parents invite the bridegroom or vice versa and in addition to presenting him with costly cloths according to the position and wealth of the party, they have also to give costly presents in the shape of jewels and vessels to which a large quantity of gingelly oil, fruits and other sundries are also added. This is generally