3 Couples Wed in Allston In 500-Year-Old India Rite
This article "3 Couples Wed in Allston In 500-Year-Old India Rite," was published in The Boston Globe, May 8, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts.
By JEREMIAH V. MURPHY
The couple looked handsome, prosperous and worried last night as they sat in a former store at 95 Glenville av. in Allston and watched their 18-year-old daughter marry a man she had met two weeks ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Lionel Weiser had flown to Boston from Chicago for the ceremony and now they waited for it to begin. Three couples were to wed in the first marriage rites ever performed in Boston by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a religion that originated in India 500 years ago and came to the U.S. three years ago.
There were 10 men, all in their teens and twenties, and six women in the converted store, now called the Radha Krishna Temple, and they were dressed in colored sheets and saris. The men's hair was clipped short, and in a few cases shaved. The women did not wear makeup. They wore neither shoes nor stockings, and the bottoms of their feet were dirty.
Oriental rugs were on the floor, and on the white walls were hung Indian prints and a glass-covered painting of Jesus Christ. You could smell the burning incense, and, coming from the back room, the heavy smell of boiling vegitables.
A record player was going, and it chanted, over and over: "Hare-Krishna Hare-Krishna, Krishna-Krishna. Hare-Hare, Hare-Rama, Hare-Rama, Rama-Rama, Hare-Hare."
Then Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta walked in the door. He was wearing an orange sheet, and white athletic socks. He is 73 years old, coffee colored, and comes from India.
Little bells started ringing from somewhere, and the smell of incense grew stronger as the swami walked slowly to a pillow and sat down cross legged. A young woman put a garland of flowers around his head, and the chanting started again, much louder, while another woman started playing drums.
The swami held tiny cymbals in his hands, which he used to keep time. He closed his eyes and rocked back and forth with the chanting. Now the dancing increased in tempo and intensity.
The young men and women, closed their eyes, swaying back and forth, but not touching each other, and a girl in a green and white sari put her hands over her head and jumped up and down. Some of the others called out loudly, and they repeated over and over, the chant "Hare-Krishna, Hare Krishna..."
Abruptly Bhaktivedanta halted the dancing and called the three couples to sit in front of him. There was Wendy Weiser, dark hair and a flashing smile, beautiful the way brides are supposed to be. She looked around at her parents, and smiled because she was glad they were there, no other parents were there.
Seated beside Wendy was Mark Buchwald, 22, of Montreal, a singer, who met her two weeks ago in Boston.
Gaurino said they have the same interest: Krishna Consciousness, so they are ideally matched.
Sarah Aatlo 18, formerly of San Francisco, now a Brighton High School senior, was married to John Soccia, 19, of New York city, an apprentice printer. Joy Fulcher, 24, of San Francisco was married to Lawrence Higgins, 25, of Newark, N.J.
Then the swami, speaking in English, lectured to the three couples, saying women never should be allowed to remain independent. He advised the husbands, "don't let them wear mini-skirts."
The bridegrooms marked the brides' forehead with red paint, the symbol of a married woman. Then they exchanged garlands of flowers, and the swami lit an ancient sacrifice fire. Then they came more chanting and everybody threw handful of rice into the fire.
Then it was over, and somebody in the back room said the wedding feast of sweet grain, and rice, with milk and sugar, and vegetables was ready. Mr. and Mrs. Weisner from Chicago continued to sit there and still looked worried.
Photo: AT THE CEREMONY - Wendy Weser, 18, Chicago; bride of Mark Buchwald, 23, Montreal; Joy Fulcher, 23, Seattle; Sarah Aatlo, 18, San Francisco, bride of John Soccia, 23, NDC. (John Hurley photo)