Sunday 15 October 2017

Mundan Ceremony

Mundan is also known as baby first hair cut which is performed within the completion of 1st year or -+3rd year of age ans is performed with some rituals and rites.Some people say hair from birth is related to past lives and undesirable traits,the child is shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future.

Significance of Mundan:

1)Improves the growth of the baby's hair.

2)Helps relieve headaches and pains caused by teething.

3)Helps to keep baby's head cool

4)Cleanses the child body and soul.

5)Protect the child from evil eye.

6)Bestows a long life and a good future.

7)Rids the baby of his past life negativity..

So we decided to plan our baby's mundan before his birthday at our ancestral town in Madhya pradesh. The day we choose was the auspicious asthami teethi (eighth day of navratri).We packed our bags as you all know with baby it was very tough to do packing so i started the preparations one week prior so at the last moment there will be less chaos,mess up is compulsory part of my travelling or else i felt something is missing,it is a goodluck charm for me.From pune we went to mumbai by taxi then from mumbai to jabalpur,from jabalpur to katni and finally from katni to matwari (ancestral place) it's a very small village and to my surprise google is showing this tiny village in the map.If we want we could take train directly to katni, it will take 16-18hrs to reach there but it was me who wanted to keep it comfortable and simple but it became little hectic for the baby,i think sometimes i should listen to my husband ,he is not always wrong but mind you he is not always right.But anyways we finally reached our destination of mundan.

After his birth baby AJ is first time going to meet his great grandmother she lives there only,this is his first visit to village and mine second.I really like the village far away from the hustle and bustle of city surrounded by greenery,full of fresh air,sunlight,vegetables,fruits and water.In the backyard only they plant so many veggies for their regular use.Some rooms of house is made up mud,soil and stone and mind part is much cooler than the other part which is made up from cement and bricks.

We performed the pooja and havan of our goddess here offer prasad and bhog seeking for her blessing for the wellbeing of everyone in the family.On 28th sep 2017 after performing our family rituals we started the ceremony of mundan.Im ny family Mundan is performed in the temple near some water bodies by the barber,My baby's mundan is performed in shiv temple where the first hair cut of my father in law and his elder brother was performed and by the same barber who shaved my father in law head.The barber was so excited as he got the chance to shave the head of 3rd generation of the family,before starting the mundan we took the blessings of lord shiva.

Baby AJ sat in my lap and to divert his attention from the shaving i handed him his favourite toy so that he get busy playing with it and luckily my trick works,he was so engrossed in it that he didn't even look up and cried during the ceremony,in ours tradition when barber shave the head of baby his aunt (sister in law) has to take the hair in the kneaded dough and afterward it would be put tin some pond or lakes i don;t have any idea why they did this but i think instead of putting here and there the dough will eaten by fishes so they will get their food and some good deeds is done by us.After getting shaved turmeric (Haldi) and oil paste is put on the baby's head so whatever minor cut they got will be get cured.

Some points to be considered before performing the mundan ceremony:

1) Make sure your baby is full because all the rituals take time,if he/she is hungry she will not cooperate with you and will cry their lungs out.

2)Always carry their favorite toy or toys to keep them engage.

3)Please take extra pair of clothes and diapers for them because after performing the mundan change is required.

4)Carry their water bottle or sippy cups/sippers whatever you have so they can sip water.

5)Experienced barber is required so make the arrangement prior.

6) Get your camera ready to click the pictures for your memories.

I know my baby is not going to remember all these but it's always good to perform your customs and traditions so by seeing the pictures they will understand the importance of these thing in our life.We are living in a very fast pace life where no one has time for others but by performing all these function we remain connected to our roots and got to learn so much from elders about our customs and tradition and may be can inculcate some values in our little ones.Most importantly get chance to meet family and relatives from whom we haven't met in ages.

Resources:Wikipedia and baby center