At all times in the life of a Hindu, rituals and ceremonies have occupied a special place. The range of their use is incredibly wide. In India, there are rituals for all occasions: home, temple, festive, official, solemn and everyday.
At present, the life of the Hindus is incompatible with the old rituals and ceremonies, but the brahmanas are trying to preserve them. Consider the most incredible rituals that have retained their influence on the Hindus:
Wedding customs
In India it is possible to marry a tree.
According to local customs, the younger brother can only marry after the older brother is married. And if the younger brother is on fire to marry, then the way out of the situation will be the wedding of the older brother with a tree.
For such purposes, a plane tree is usually chosen. They declare the couple husband and wife, play a wedding around the tree, and at the end of the festival they cut down the tree at the root, saying: "Your wife is dead!" The widower returns home, and his younger brother can now marry in peace.
In the state of Punjab, weddings with a tree are still common, but for a different reason. Here a man can marry as many times as he wants, but the authorities have imposed a very strict ban on the third marriage. However, religion does not forbid loving plants, in particular trees. Therefore, voluptuous people bypass the law by marrying a tree. After the wedding, suddenly widowed, they are free to marry whomever they wish.
Promotional video:
A woman can also marry a tree and get a devoted, silent husband. However, she is forbidden to be “widowed”. She is obliged to take care of her husband and take care of him until the end of her days.
Sati
Indian rite of death. Its essence lies in the fact that after the death of her husband, the wife should follow him.
Since in India the bodies of the dead are cremated, the body of a living woman was also burned at the fire of her husband. The wife must dress beautifully on her last journey, and her face must express unspeakable joy from the upcoming fate.
Usually, the joy disappeared with the first kisses of the flame, and the widow tried to get out of the fire, but society condemns such dishonest behavior. Therefore, the caring relatives of the deceased man push the fugitive back into the fire with sticks or simply tie her up and throw her to her husband. There were cases when widows' limbs were broken so that they would not crawl out of the fire. You can learn more about the sati rite from this article.
In the old days, Indian widows were on the edge of the social ladder, they were considered unclean. The poor were shunned and despised. For some unknown reason, the woman was considered guilty of having outlived her husband. Therefore, death at the stake was an atonement for her.
The British banned the ritual in 1829. Then it was banned in 1956 and in 1981, however, despite the prohibitions, this ancient custom is still carried out today.
Healing cow urine
Bottles of cow urine are sold in markets and shops in India. There is a custom to bathe children in it. They also drink the urine of sacred animals and rub it into the skin.
Throwing children from a height
In the Grishneshvor temple, which is located in the state of Maharashtra, a rather dangerous ritual is performed. It is customary to throw children from the roof of this temple from fifteen meters in height. And the dads of the children catch them downstairs on a stretched sheet. The age of flying babies ranges from 1 to 2 years. Such a ceremony is intended to endow the child with intelligence, luck and health. However, more often than not, such children withdraw into themselves and become unsociable.
Yoni and Lingam worship
The male and female genital organs in India are the subject of mass worship.
Some sects believe that a person is able to enlighten if he concentrates his attention on the soul, which is located in the yoni. There are many temples in India where only the yoni are worshiped. The most famous is located near Assama. It is called Kamarupa. A crack in the rock is worshiped here as the goddess Sati.
Lingam sculptures are also dedicated to hundreds of temples. Phalluses are worshiped by followers of Shiva and women suffering from infertility.