Barah - A Traditional Newa Ritual
From: The Newarsby: Gopal Sing Nepali
Barah - A Traditional Newa Ritual
From: The Newarsby: Gopal Sing Nepali
While symbolizing the true marriage of a girl, the ;ihee ceremony confers a new status on her. It is a transition from one type of status to another.
The puberty ceremony of the Newar girl is called Baarah. For eleven days the girl is kept confined in a dark room occulted from the sun and the male members. On the 12th day she undergoes a purification ceremony to be accompanied by a ceremonial feast. The Baarah ceremony is observed in two different ways: viz., BaarahTaygu and Baarah caehnegu Under the first a girl undergoes the Barha before she has her first menstruation. In the second, the ceremony is held when the girl has her first menses. The difference between these two types of Barha is that in the former case the girl is regarded as mature before the attainment of puberty, while in the other, physical puberty coincides with the ceremonial puberty. The latter type is gradually coming more into vogue.
Barha-Taye-gu is observed by a girl when she has already undergone the Yihee and when she is between the ages of five and thirteen. It is generally held in groups and several girls are huddled up together in a dark room. The Barha-Chone-gu, on the other hand, is a rite to be undergone individually since it is based on the physical puberty. The ceremony proceeds as follows: In both the types of ceremony, a cotton effigy is made, representing the Barha-Khya, the she-devil which is believed to possess the girl undergoing Barha, and hung on the wall in the room in which the girl is confined. The Thakali-Naki continues to worship the Barha-Khya for twelve days and daily it is offered a portion of the girl's food with a view to protecting her from its malevolent influence. All the time the young girls from the neighborhood come to entertain her with traditional songs and music.
The taboo on food is not so elaborate. The girl is denied only salt; the rest she can have. The Barha of a girl renders all the members of the family impure for eleven days. But her married sisters and other relatives are not affected by such pollution.
On the sixth day, the fukee Fuik relatives pay her a visit and feed her with Chhusya-Mussya. Her married sisters have also to bring such food articles on this occasion. The maternal uncle is under special obligation to send the eldest married woman of his household to feed the girl with Chhssya-Mussya. He also sends her Kon-chceka(n) with which she and other females rub their faces. The girl then applies oil on her head which means the cessation of the salt taboo.
The actual purification ritual takes place on the twelfth day, when the girl comes out of her confinement and becomes ceremonially clean. On this day, she and all the members of the Fukee families undergo the Ni-si-yaaguu' ritual of purification. Special care is taken with regard to the girl's bath which should be before sunrise. After these preliminaries, all the members assemble at the girl's place. The girl's eyes are blind-folded with a cotton band and she is conducted either to the terrace of the house or to some convenient place which commands a clear view of the sun, where the ceremony of 'seeing the sun' is performed.
The Thakali-Naki again assumes the ceremonial leadership. She performs worship to Ganesh and the Sun. Subsequently, the other deities like Kumari, and objects representing the evil spirits and the Kul deity, all are worshipped. The girl offers flowers and rice to the sun while she remains blind-folded. The cotton band is then removed and the first object she sees is the sun. After the girl has seen the sun, the Thakali-Naki again worships the sun as before, but this time it is also participated in by the girl herself. As usual, the J~valaNhai-ka(n) and Shinha-Mhu are also worshipped. Then the girl is again blind-folded and the ritual of Sino-~lae-gu is performed by the Thakali-Naki.
Then she performs the Pathi-Lui-gu ritual. She takes a handful of the mixture of rice and paddy and offers to the girl. This is known as Barha-Chhui-gu (removing the pollution of Barha), which is repeated three times. She then offers Ko ( n ) ( rice-powder ) and Chika ( n ) (mustard oil) to the girl separately in two different small earthen pots. Then she presents a set of new clothes and makes obeisance to the girl. This is the first occasion when a girl is given to wear a sari in place of the traditional Sulwar. The presentation of the mixture of rice and paddy and the set of new clothes is repeated by other women relatives in turn according to the order of seniority of age and social status.
On the twelfth day also, the maternal uncle of the girl sends a set of clothes, some mixture of paddy and rice and Saga(n). The married daughters of the family also come to offer the girl similar materials.
The girl afterwards pays a visit to the temple of Ganesh. On her return, the Saga(n) ritual follows. First the Saga(n) is offered to the Kul-deity, then to the girl and subsequently to the other relatives, strictly in the order of seniority. The Barha ceremony is brought to a close with the holding of a communal feast.
