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Ceremonies connected with a birth of a child
The birth of a child is the most important thing in the woman's
life after marriage. Her health is carefully looked after by elderly women.
Every member of the family tries to keep her in good spirits and so elderly
women try to surround her with an atmosphere of piety: religious books are read;
rites of Pungsavan are observed and she is given panchamrita. For a month from
the birth of a child, the mother is held impure. She is not allowed to touch
anything in the house. A fire is kept constantly burning with paddy husks
or dried cow dung near her to drive off evil spirits. After the first month is
over, the suddhi, ceremony is held when mother and child are purified and
allowed to mix with others. The baby's head is shaved off. The Lalungs have
another wonderful custom; the mother brings the baby washed clean, out of the
house in the morning and let him face the east, a women-priest brings a
specially-made bow and arrows to be touched by the baby and shoots four arrows in the
four corners, feigning that the baby itself is shooting and praying to
Narayana, Ananta, Mahadeva and Yama to protect it from calamity. If it is a
girl, she is touched with a piece of cotton and a sickle instead of with
bow and arrows and: "your struggle is outside the house", is
whispered to the boy and "your struggle is inside the house", to the
girl.
Other ceremonies connected with a new-born baby such as
namakaram, chudakaram and annaprasam are undergone by Brahmanas
according to Sastric rites. Non-Brahmans hold only the ceremony of annaprasam when the baby is its fifth,
seventh or ninth month. The first
morsel is put into its mouth (bhat mukhat diya ) by its maternal uncle. A
feast is conducted and congregational prayers are held.
Some Buddhist of Assam observe a kind of purification rites
for both mother and child. The Dowaniyas do it with the help of a Fungi
(priest) who perform religious functions. The Buddhist Fakials bring the
baby outside to the elevated verandah of the houses built on poles only
after seven days and they bring down the baby to the ground only after
a month, when old women tie black thread to its hands and legs to wish
it well in life. Some Hindus also tie a black thread around the
baby's waist to ward off effects of evil eyes.
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Khasi's Naming Ceremony
The naming ceremony of the Khasis is interesting: an experienced
elderly man is invited to the house to act as a witness, there will be
others who will go on uttering name after name; the priest will go on
pouring wine, the name that coincide with the last drop of wine will be
adopted.
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Bodo's Naming Ceremony
Amongst the Bodos a thread is tied at the base of intestinal
canal and then the canal is cut above the knot with a sharp bamboo blade
or with a knife or a razor. No widow or widower or a person having no
children is allowed to perform this act. Then the baby is washed with
tepid water. Nine durba grasses, a branch of tulsi and a gold ring
are tied in a bundle which is dipped into water from a river and sprinkled
over the new-born and asked "O baby, what were you in your
previous birth? what ever you were, from this day you have become a Bodo".
A cock is offered to the Gods for the welfare of the baby. There is no
other ceremony. The scar from the navel is put in a talisman and hung
from the baby's neck. The mother has to entertain the dhai and others
who helped her to a feast; not to do so is considered a sin. There is
no formal feeding of a Bodo baby. But when a boy is five years old, his
maternal uncle comes and shaves off his head. Some times in families where
babies often die, a three-month old boy is married to his mother and a
three-month-old girl to her father in the hope that it will give them
a long lease of life. Again, sometimes a father without luck will put
his new-born child into a basket, carry the burden on his head and try
to sell it peddling from house to house; every door he approaches
will express inability to 'buy' and direct him to the next door, thus
'unable to sell' he will come back home and make an atonement, by throwing
a feast to the villagers, for dealing inhuman merchandise.
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