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Three nuptials of the Newar, Nepal

10 images Created 2 Feb 2016

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  • The aunt of a Newar girl prepares her for her Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
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  • Girls and their mothers scatter grains of rice as an offering to the gods while a priest conducts the rituals for the girls’ Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
    4359.jpg
  • Newar girl in ceremonial clothes at her Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
    4518.jpg
  • Newar girl in ceremonial clothes at her Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
    4356.jpg
  • Newar woman with her daughter at the daughter's Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, Patan, the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
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  • Fathers hold their daughters in their laps as they give them away in marriage at the girls’ Ihi ceremony, a mock marriage to the Hindu god Vishnu, in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Among the Newars, who are the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, every girl goes through this ceremony sometime between the age of five and ten. The Ihi makes the girl a full member of her father's family and caste and is also said to make sure that she will never become a widow, even if later on her future human husband would die, since she will forever be married to the god Vishnu. The Ihi is therefore for the Newar women a protection against the stigmatization of widows otherwise common in Hindu culture.
    4387.jpg
  • A 10-year old Newar girl, dressed in school uniform, sits outside her family's house in Kathamndu, Nepal. She has just come home from school, and is waiting to begin her bahra ceremony, a mock first-menstruation rite, during which she will be secluded in a room for twelve days. Her mother and female relatives and friends may enter the room, but no male can go inside and its windows will be covered so that the sun cannot shine in.
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  • A young Newar girl, who has been secluded in a room at home for twelve days during her barha ceremony, is taken to the roof of the family house to show herself to the sun god Surya, Kathmandu, Nepal. The barha is a Newar mock first-menstruation rite, held before the girl's first menstruation. During the seclusion, no male above the age of initiation is allowed to see the girl, and the windows of the room are covered so that the rays of the sun god, who is a male, cannot shine on her. The ceremony is also a mock-marriage, as it is said that the girl is married to Surya when she shows herself to him after the seclusion. The mother is standing behind the girl.
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  • At a farewell party before a Newar wedding in the Kahmandu Valley, Nepal, friends and family offer the bride their congratualations and deposit gifts in a large brass bowl.
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  • Newar bride cries loudly when taking farewell of her family and friends in Panga Village, Kathmandu, Nepal. It is in the middle of the night and the groom's family has arrived to bring the bride to their home, where the couple will be married the following day. It is customary for the bride to cry at this stage in the ceremonies, when she is about to leave her home and begin a new life with another family. She is comforted by friends and family and also by the matchmaker who is sitting to the left.
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Anders Ryman

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