In the Gurung culture, babies have a special ceremony the first time they eat rice. For girls it's at 4 months old, for boys it's 5 months. My niece just turned four months old. The ceremony involves placing a tika on the infant and then feeding her a little rice. There was some chicken there too, but no one actually tried to feed her that.
My niece was remarkably well behaved, for the most part. I guess an infant can only handle people stikking rice on their foreheads and shoving food in their mouths for so long.
This is also the time when a little girl starts wearing bracelets. They were so small! Good thing baby hands are flexible-- my experience with putting on similar bracelets (adult sized) was excruciatingly painful.
Honestly, I was really not excited about this ceremony. Babies should be exclusively breastfeed for six full months. My sister-in-law knew this, but it's hard to abandon deeply rooted traditions just because you know better. I am very happy to say though that my sister-in-law kept the ceremony simply symbolic-- she is still breastfeeding exclusively.
My niece was remarkably well behaved, for the most part. I guess an infant can only handle people stikking rice on their foreheads and shoving food in their mouths for so long.
This is also the time when a little girl starts wearing bracelets. They were so small! Good thing baby hands are flexible-- my experience with putting on similar bracelets (adult sized) was excruciatingly painful.
Honestly, I was really not excited about this ceremony. Babies should be exclusively breastfeed for six full months. My sister-in-law knew this, but it's hard to abandon deeply rooted traditions just because you know better. I am very happy to say though that my sister-in-law kept the ceremony simply symbolic-- she is still breastfeeding exclusively.
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