In an unlikely set of events in New Zealand a few days back, the world witnessed the first ever Pastafarian wedding in the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on a pirate themed boat.
Bride Marianna Fenn and bridegroom Toby Ricketts posed for many photographs and truly enjoyed being a part of something new and exciting.
ALL ABOUT THE WEDDING
The wedding took place in New Zealand (one of the very few places that recognises the religion) on a ship docked in Akaroa that was pirate themed. The bride and groom, along with the crowd, wore head-to-toe pirate regalia and guests donned eye patches, pirate hats, and feathers for the ceremony. Fenn also wore a colander on her head – the official headdress of the church.
During the ceremony, Ricketts and Fenn exchanged rings made of pasta, and in his vows Ricketts promised to always add salt while boiling spaghetti (means that husband will be running the household chores).
The total cost of the wedding was NZ$3,000 (£1,460), and the couple supplied the wedding feast – 15kg of tomatoes from their garden, vegetarian meatballs, and plenty of pasta and bread. The processions of the Wedding were carried out by the minister Karen Martyn featuring choruses of grunts and pirate-themed puns.
Who are these Pastafarians gumps?
Pastafarians belong to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CFSM), which the New Zealand government approved to conduct legal marriages in 2015. They believe in the “Rejection of Dogma” and have their website as well. Initially, their inception was to satirise the American religious fundamentalism (which they didn’t).
They believe that a deity made up of spaghetti and meatball has an equal importance as compared to the other deities (so,let me put it this way, we will worship a packet of Maggi and not eat it).
Oh, you just swallowed a bit of God!
But they have been dealing with their own sets of problems to evolve and show up in numbers. Nebraska’s US District Court says Pastafarianism is not a legitimate religion. There have been some tensions in Brandenburg and Nudelmesse.
There, Brother Spaghettus is fighting fiercely to keep the rights of the Pastafarians intact. In these places and some more, due to the illegitimacy of the group, Pastafarians are not allowed to advertise the meetings. Pastafarian prisoners are not allowed to practice their religion inside the jail.
IS SECULARITY JUSTIFIED?
In this jingoistic world, where the principles of secularity are so widely talked about, banning a religious group with its own sets of ideologies and history, can it be justified?
“The satire argument is flimsy. Lots of people do view FSM as satire, but I’m not sure how that disqualifies it as a real religion. True believers make up a small proportion of mainstream religions as well — the difference is that Pastafarians are more honest when they don’t hold a literal view of their religion”, says the Brother Spaghettus.
And I too buy this moral justification. Pastafarians just hold a different viewpoint of looking at things. They are being honest, rationale and not trying to demean any deity or belief.
If they are being given the legitimacy in various countries, then they too can survive in the best possible atmosphere (for we want to see more of such weddings).
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