EDITOR’S LOG

A few editions back, Yuvan received a reader feedback asking that we write about our Hindu rites of passage. The Yuvan team thought that it was an excellent feedback, and one that should be acted upon.

In these days of globalization, many youngsters tend to lose touch of our Hindu culture. Ceremonies – the foundation of all cultures – seem to be lacking for some reason in the Hindu community. At the most, the only ceremonies properly observed are the birth and death ceremonies.

Other smaller ceremonies, with nevertheless important significance, seem to slip by the younger generation. When these youngsters become young parents, they do not perform these rites of passage for their offspring. They fail to teach their children the meanings of these ceremonies, and over time, these ceremonies and their significances are lost.

The rites of passage ceremonies in the Hindu culture are unique - and like every other culture - they mark the milestones in the life cycle of man. Apart from birth and death, there is a ceremony to mark the first food, the first tooth, the first word – the first of everything important in a man’s life.

The tenth edition of the Yuvan exclusively brings you the Hindu ceremonies along with their significances and when they should be performed.

Its aim is to educate, and perhaps act as a simple plea from the Yuvan team to the younger generation to ensure that these ceremonies are kept alive in their lives - so that these ceremonies do not diminish in the name of modernization.

Yuvan hopes that it will enlighten the youth on the richness of the Hindu culture- a heritage that our forefathers gave us – a culture like none other.

The responsibility is yours…….