Bangles (aka churi or Choodi) are traditional ornaments worn mostly by South Asian women in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks.
Some men wear a single bangle on the arm or wrist called kada or kara. In Sikhism, The father of a Sikh bride will give the groom a gold ring, a kara (steel or iron bangle), and a mohra. Chooda is a kind of bangle that is worn by Punjabi women on her wedding day. It is a set of white and red bangles with stone work. According to tradition, a woman is not supposed to buy the bangles she will wear. Hyderabad, Pakistan, is the world's largest producer of Bangles. While Moradabad is India's largest producer of bangles.
Bangles—made from sea shell, copper, bronze, gold, agate, chalcedony etc.—have been excavated from multiple archaeological sites throughout India. Bangles are circular in shape, and, unlike bracelets, are not flexible. The word is derived from Hindi bungri (glass). They are made of numerous precious as well as non-precious materials such as gold, silver, platinum, glass, wood, ferrous metals, plastic, etc. Bangles made from sea shell, which are white color, are worn by married Bengali and Oriya Hindu women. A Special type of Bangle are worn by women and girls, especially in Bengal area commonly known as "Bengali Bangle", which is used as a substitute of costly Gold bangle, and is produced by fixing a thin Gold strip that is thermo-mechanically fused onto a bronze bangle, followed by manual crafting on that fused Gold strip.
Bangles are part of traditional Indian jewelry. They are usually worn in pairs by women, one or more on each arm. Most Indian women prefer wearing either gold or glass bangles or combination of both. Inexpensive bangles made from plastic are slowly replacing those made by glass, but the ones made of glass are still preferred at traditional occasions such as marriages and on festivals.
The designs range from simple to intricate handmade designs, often studded with precious and semi-precious stones such as diamonds, gems and pearls. Sets of expensive bangles made of gold and silver make a jingling sound. The imitation jewelry, tend to make a tinny sound when jingled.
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