Abstract:
The postmodern movement has had a significant impact on cultural practices and
traditions around the world, including Sri Lankan weddings. Postmodernism
emphasizes the importance of plurality, hybridity, imitation, achieving utopia,
subjectivity, and self-reflexivity and challenges traditional notions of identity,
power, and representation. Even though there were no big wedding ceremonies
in the ancient period, the Sri Lankan wedding industry currently consists of
bridal designers, beauticians, jewellery designers, photographers, cake
designers, catering services and flower decorations. Moreover, there are
unpopular organizational actors such as travel agents, luxury hotels, dancing
choreographers, banks and money providers as well as wedding planners. Such
a wide market concerning weddings appeared in the Sri Lankan context until the
19th century. In Sri Lanka, this has led to a complex and often contradictory
transition of wedding customs and practices as individuals and communities
negotiate the tension between preserving cultural heritage and embracing new
and diverse influences. Thus, this study attempts to examine how wedding
ceremonies have evolved as a market event aligned with the fallacies of
postmodernism in contemporary Sri Lankan society. To explore the
aforementioned purpose, the data were collected through semi-structured
interviews and photo-elicitation techniques under the anti-positivistic research
paradigm. Under the purposive sampling, two sets of samples were used. Namely,
Sinhala Buddhist married couples who belong to three historical periods namely,
early modernity, late modernity and postmodernity are used as the data sources
for data generation. Further, data were generated from organizational actors
who perform in the wedding industry. By adopting a postmodernism theory, this
study fills the gap in the existing knowledge. The findings indicated that the
socio-cultural event—wedding—has entered to a wider market today, especially
with the influence of postmodern conditions. Customary practices associated
with weddings have been intermingled with other cultures, and plurality and
contextually are acknowledged. This evolution of the Sri Lankan wedding trend
toward consumerism and individualism undermines the communal and social
aspects of the wedding ceremony, which have traditionally been central to Sri
Lankan weddings. In conclusion, the evolution of Sri Lankan weddings in thecontext of postmodernism reflects a complex and often contradictory negotiation
between tradition and innovation, identity and plurality, and globalization and
cultural heritage. As such, it remains a site of ongoing debate and contestation
within Sri Lankan society. This study paves the way for people to see how such a
social event has become a market event and a lucrative platform to earn profit
with the social transition.
