Life Cycle Ceremony In Hinduism

In the Hinduism religion, with elements tracing back to several thousand years, the different stages of life are often celebrated in various ways. Traditional Hinduism holds that each stage of life has its proper way of being lived (Molloy 88). A complicated religion that is interpreted differently by numerous sects, the concepts and stages of the life cycle are each riddled with various rituals, ceremonies, and customs that are aimed at achieving four distinct objectives. These four major life-cycle events include birth, childhood, marriage, and death. Each stage of life is celebrated in its own distinct ceremony in the company of family and friends who surround the individual going through the major life change. Although each life-cycle ceremony
During the pregnancy, ceremonies are usually performed in order to guarantee the well-being of the mother and the growing child. Most of the ceremonies performed during the birth of the child include the participation of the father. For instance, to assure the maturity of the embryo, the father might part the mother’s hair three times from front to the back. While the baby is being birthed, after the umbilical cord is cut, the father either touches the lips of the newborn with a ring dipped in honey, ghee, curds or with a gold spoon; he then whispers the name of the Hindu goddess of speech “Vak” into the right ear of the newborn three times, which is known as the jatakarma ceremony. Mantras are chanted afterwards in order to ensure the infant a long and prosperous life. Shortly after birth, the parents of the child celebrate namakarana, the name–giving ceremony. The name of the child is determined by the family astrologer who announces the child’s horoscope and bases the name off of the position the moon is on the birth chart. There are many more rituals in store for the infant before he or she reaches childhood. At about two weeks, the first outing occurs, during which the child embraces darshan of the sun. The first grains customs occur a little while after when the baby begins to teeth. Between the ages of one to three, the toddler is given their first haircut by a priest and around ages three to five, their ear lobes are