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Lotus seeds at Hindu weddings
At a Hindu wedding, the bride has to hold five lotus seeds in one hand, and the groom five other seeds, then the couple exchange them. It helps bring them good luck with money.
For special days we offer lotus seeds to the god as well, just a few. I use sandalwood every day for my prayers, we burn sandalwood arbattii (joss sticks) sometimes powdered sandalwood too. Lotus flowers are holy for Lakshmi, who's the goddess of wealth, so it's very auspicious to have lotus in your house, or images of them.
Goddesses generally are supposed to like red flowers as their offerings..sometimes in India we give leaves instead and the best leaves to use for sacred places are mango, plantain, asoke and coconut. If you haven't got coconut you can use a piece of the palm tree which grows betel nuts. I don't know what the name of asoke is in English. In England we just put fresh flowers, fresh every day at the shrine.
This story was collected through Plant Cultures workshops by Leicester Museum Service.
