Sindhi traditions and rituals
[3] A mullan (priest) is summoned, and, after some ceremonies and presents, a name for the child is taken either from religious works or decided upon according to the rules of judicial astrology.
The Sindhis in the hills usually call their children by the names of plants and fruits; for example, Gul (flower), Kando (thorn), and Ambu (mango).
The immediate family, close relatives, and neighbors visit a nearby dargah, while women sing traditional folk songs.
The popular idea is that on the day of resurrection the contents of the skin will arise in the shape of a horse, and triumphantly carry the child over As-Sirāt into Paradise.
[2] In the north of Sindh, there is a custom of preventing any mishap during the operation by making the anxious mother stand with a millstone on her head while a male relative pours water on it.
After the recovery of the patient on the 11th day, it is necessary for father to feast close relations and friends, but each guest is expected to bring a small money present (pahat).
The boy's family first visits the girl's home in a meeting called padhri or gaalh paki, where they ask her parents' permission for their son to marry their daughter.
[7][better source needed] On the day of manghno, the groom's family arrives at the bride's house with a long embroidered veil (pothi), a bodice (cholo), and pantaloons (suthan); sometimes a lehengha is also given, as well as some ornaments such as a haar necklace, and different kinds of gold rings.
Other women sing traditional folk songs, the bride's mother sends the hajaman to the men's assembly with a large pot of milk for the groom's father.
Some rituals like applying oil in hair by married women is also done called wanah ja sath with ladies singing traditional folk songs.
She eats a special bread called busri and churo or khorak, made up with the dry fruits, sweetmeats and the clarified butter sent by the groom.
[2][7] The barber's wife attends every day to bathe and wash the bride with pithi[9] (a replacement for soap, composed of sweet oil and flour of wheat or mash, the mung bean), and body hair is removed.
At times sandalwood and rose water were rubbed upon the head and body, after the former has been thoroughly combed and washed with the clay (known as metu) and lime juice.
The young beginner is instructed in the science of handling a bit of musk enclosed in embroidered cloth, and Tira, or moles, are drawn upon her face and lips with needles dipped in antimony and other coloring materials.
Three days are considered sufficient to clean him with pithi and dress him in rich clothes mostly white in color, a shawl ajrak/lungi, patko, and garlands of money and flowers.
[2] Bukki is done after wanahu, in which thread is tied to a big earthen pot called ukhri, and the dried dates are crushed into it while ladies sing traditional folk songs.
Early in the evening the barber appears at the groom's house, gets him ready, dresses him in new white salwar khamis (shirt and trousers), a turban, waistband, shawl, another red or pink embroidered veil on his head, a mohr, and a pair of shoes everything sent by the bride's relations.
Appropriate usage dictates that it should not be sewn in any part, that it should reach down to the calves of the legs, and that religious sentences should be traced with clay from Mecca upon the portion that covers the dead man's chest.
Finally, a shawl, or some such covering, is thrown over the sheet, a Koran, belonging to the priest, is placed at the head of the bier, and the corpse is ready for interment.
Up to this time, friends and relatives visit the deceased's family, generally twice a day, morning and evening, and the women of the house are all clad in sua (dirty clothes).
At the end of the feast, the guests give sets of bangles or new clothes and one chādar (veil) to close female relatives of the deceased as a symbolic gesture to break the sua.
It usually concludes the funeral rites, though some families are so affectionate as to keep up the practice of sending food to the akhund, twice a day, on all great festivals.
[29] The higher orders usually pay several akhunds to read the Quran over a relative's grave for forty days in succession; even the poorest do their best to secure the luxury for a week or fortnight.
Among the more literary classes, it is not unusual for an individual occasionally to peruse the sacred volume in the presence of the dead many years after their decease.
Sometimes, it is raised in cylindrical form about one span high, sprinkled with water, and smeared with kahgil; others merely make a heap of mould covered with pebbles, or spread leaves of the arak tree.
The priest carries several items called shubh samagri in a bag of rice, sugar, spices, coconut, sweets, dates, a green colored ball of silk yarn, and a piece of paper on which an auspicious time is written.
[36][33] A priest determines the auspicious day of satawara, which is when the married couple visits the wife's parents' house for lunch or dinner after their wedding.
The latter people are very fond of it, especially the lower orders in the country villages, where the greybeards assemble and play together for hours over a few lines marked with a stick on the ground.
The game is very simple: each player has three pieces (generally pebbles or cowries), which are put down in turn, and he wins that first can place all three in a straight line.
The board is made of wool or cloth, with wooden pawns and seven cowry shells used to determine each player's move, chaupur is distinguished from pachisi because of the use of three four-sided long dice.
