Birth and Death

Both birth and death have many beliefs, customs practices and rituals associated with them. The birth of a child is accompanied by customs of childbirth and mothering and followed by social customs of congratulating the birth, blessing the child, naming the child, writing the horoscope, etc. Death is a serious affair which is both expensive and time consuming. Specific rituals and prayers are conducted during the time of death. After dying, there are social and religious customs of moving and cleaning the corpse, preparing it for cremation, earth burial, sky burial or water burial and the funerary activities planned for three to seven weeks.