This chardash is an excellent example of a ritual dance. About one in the morning, the bride starts to dance the chardash with someone from her own family. Then someone from the groom’s family buys the right to dance with her, placing money in a large bowl and being recognized by the woman with a microphone. Then someone from the bride’s family quickly “buys her” back, then the groom’s family, and on an on (in reality the rush to dance with the bride eventually made the sequencing of partners a bit more messy). At the end of the dance, the groom returned to the hall, paid a larger sum of money, and then literally carried her out of the room!

The dance clearly demonstrates in body language how the bride’s identity is shifting, and is contested somewhat. She moves from her own clan to that of her new husband.  This is ritual.