CUSTOMS
AND TRADITIONS
Tribal and non-tribal communities live together all over Himachal
Pradesh.
The villages follow their own hierarchies of caste and community patterns, which
follow the demands of a life style followed through the ages.
The village is looked upon as a large family. People have established close familiar
relation-ship with each other and address the elder as Chacha-Tau (uncle),
Bhabhi (sister-in-law), Mausi (aunt) or Nani (grandmother) according to
their ages. The relationship between the wife and the husband's younger brother
(Bhabi-Devar) carries a special romanticised aura. Each bride addresses men
younger than her husband, as Devar. An elder is addressed as Jija, a women about
the same age as one's mother as Mausi and a man younger than one's father as
Chacha. All old women in the mother's village are addressed as Nanis and ones in
one's own village a Dadi. People close in age address each other as Bhau (male)
or Bhain (female). These relationships are looked upon as precious among
individuals and in the community.
In the tribal areas also
there is a common practice. A women may choose a man
as her brother and then they are known as Mitra and Mitrani. At the time of a
marriage, the untying of the thread Kankan and at the time of the Karva Chauth
fast, the exchange of karwa (clay pots with a snout) are also occasions for
making a brother or a sister. The families always treat these relationships with
respect.
The mother's brother (Mama) plays an important role at the time of wedding or
other family festivities. He presents his sister and her family with gifts of
sweets and clothes when the sister has a baby and also when the sacred thread
ceremony (Yagyopavit) is performed for her sons. At the time of the sister's
wedding, it is the brother who supports her and puts her in palanquin. Most
brothers perform their traditional duties towards their sister with affection
and respect.
The sister as Nanad or sister-in-law plays an important role in her father's
family. The older brother is known as Jeth and his wife as Jithani. These
two come next in important to the parents. The parents enjoy the highest place
in the family hierarchy and if the son and his wife live in their own houses
separately while the parents are alive, it is frowned upon. The older uncles are
also highly respected and at the time of a wedding, they are honoured with gifts
of pink turbans. Aunts, uncles, cousins are all considered equal to one's own
parents and brothers and sisters are loved and respected.
The Rajputs and the Brahmins lay particular stress on the purity of race,
caste, gotra and family. Among the higher castes the daughters father's house (Maika)
enjoys a great importance. At the time of festivals and major family occasions
like a wedding or a birth, various gifts including foodstuffs, jewellery and
clothes are sent to the girls husband's house (sasural). It is also taboo for
the girl's family members to eat or drink anything in her sasural. They must pay
an equivalent sum of money as compensation. Among the lower castes such taboos
are not enforced strictly. The higher castes follow a custom of Purdah. Women
veil their faces in front of all elders with the head bared. When a girl comes out
of her quarters after delivering a child, she must touch the feet of all the
elders in her husband's family and leave some money at their feet. This customs
is known as Pair Bandai (worshipping the feet).
Marriages are settled at an early age. There are instances of matches being
settled between families before the babies are born, based on assumptions that one will
be a boy and other a girl.
The relationship between a brother-in-law and a
sister-in-law is an informal and a close one. It is customary for the young
brother-in-law to be seated in the bride's lap and to be the first to see her
face. Among the tribals it is permissible for the younger brother to marry the
older brothers widow but the higher castes do not permit this. Among them the
older brothers wife is equal to one's mother.
All the brothers and their wives must live with the parents
when they are
alive. The older brother is considered equal to the father. The polyandrous
customs of Kinnaur region also point at the close bond between the brothers.
The occasion of a girl child's birth is not celebrated with great joy. Girls
are respected as De (short for Devi or goddess). At the time of the Navratra,
special Puja is offered to the young girls and at the time of festivals she is
given special gifts of clothing and sweets.
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