Can you marry yourself? An Indian blogger did this and caused a controversy in the media and social networks. It was probably the first celebration of this kind in India.

A blogger in India symbolically married herself. In doing so, she completed the usual rituals that are part of Hindu weddings in a typical red wedding dress – only without a man and without a priest.

The 24-year-old Kshama Bindu told the Times of India that her wedding has one advantage: she doesn’t have to leave her home afterwards. In the patriarchal country, women usually move into their in-laws’ house after marriage – together with their new husband.

Originally, Kshama Bindu wanted to tie the knot at a large Indian wedding celebration in a temple over the weekend. But then there was a controversy in the media and social networks in the country where marriages between women and men are usually arranged. Her neighbors weren’t happy either, she told the Times of India.

A local politician from the Hindu nationalist ruling party previously criticized that self-marriage was against Hinduism, India Today reported. Bindu held the celebration a little earlier on a small scale at home in the state of Gujarat.

The trend of self-marriage – a purely symbolic celebration of self-love – has been around in the West for some time, especially among single women. In more traditional India, however, it may have been the first celebration of this kind, according to local media.

Kshama Bindu told India Today: “Self-marriage is a promise to be there for yourself and to love yourself unconditionally. It’s also an act of self-acceptance.”