Source: www.hinduismtoday.com
KAPAA, HI, USA, July 29, 2010: [HPI note: Over the next weeks, HPI will bring to you some highlights of the latest issue of Hinduism Today.]
The newars are the indigenous people of Nepal’s Kathmandu valley. Most are Hindus. Their rites of passage are central to their strong social and religious traditions. These ceremonies express and celebrate the importance of the major landmarks of human life, including birth, first feeding and coming of age.
Writer Ellen Coon came to kathmandu as a Fulbright Scholar in 2004 to study newar ritual practice and concepts of feminine Divinity. Over the years, she has developed a rich network of newar friends and teachers who have generously explained their beliefs and way of life to her and even allowed her to share in their personal family observances.
[Excerpt:] In Kathmandu, we are reminded constantly of how religion binds us to place and to each other. Everywhere there is evidence of worship, from vermilion and rice grains sprinkled at the stone in front of the entrance to a home, to rice pudding lovingly offered into the mouth of the neighborhood Ganesha, to the unexpected procession in which a gold-swathed baby, a shaven-headed boy in a loincloth or a magnificently dressed elder in a palanquin is paraded through the neighborhood to celebrate entrance into a new stage of life.
These are some of the “ten karmas” or life-cycle rituals–samskaras in Sanskrit–practiced by the Newars. Of the ten karmas, I describe the seven most common, all of which I’ve seen first hand: blessing the baby, first feeding, ihi for girls, coming of age for girls and for boys, marriage and honoring one’s elders. The remaining three are also for elders, but rare. (…)
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