Experiencing Nepali's Scared Thread Wearing Ceremony

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I was 13 when I took part in this ritual. In Nepali culture, every person goes through five vital rituals/ceremonies’ (The naming ceremony, Rice Feeding ceremony, Scared Thread wearing ceremony (men), Hiding or giving traditional clothes, Marriage and Death rites). I am going to share my experience from the Scared thread wearing ceremony (also known as Bratabandha), it is performed for young men in their puberty and can be compared to rite of passage in Nepalese community but it has certain criteria (the youngster must be in his odd year age i.e. 7, 9, 11, 13 so on). Be that as it may, nowadays this ritual can also be performed a day prior to marriage too, because you cannot get married without going through this ritual. It is a critical custom where the young I just did what the gurus/priests asked of me. This ritual began with fasting, then my maternal uncles (which I don’t have any, so the person who my mother calls as her brother) shaves my head just leaving a strand of hair, then I had to wear a long single piece of traditional cloth (called dhoti) that I wrapped around my body. After all this procedure ends the actual ritual where the priests chant mantra to the gods and offer different grains, ghee, honey, oil, clothes, mirror and other things through the fire. This continued for another 8 hours of me sitting in front of the fire and offering those things to the gods. This is a community ritual where people participated with gifts and offering of their own. I had to go person to person and accept their gifts and blessings while chanting a simple mantra. This was to teach me the traditional life of a monk where they should ask and only eat what they get from asking. My dad and the person who shaved my head (my mother’s brother) also played a huge part in this ritual as they were there to stop me when I tried to run away, also part of the

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