Seemandham: A Hindu Baby Shower

Gordon and I were invited to the Hindu equivalent of a baby shower. The celebration is called seemandham. It is given in the seventh month of the pregnancy, hosted by the mother-to-be's mother-in-law and is only practiced for the couple's first child. The mother-in-law is a Rising Star housemother, hence the invitation to visit her home in a nearby town.

href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cgg2%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">Sitting on the floor is common, but apparently not acceptable for American guests. The family couldn’t stand not finding chairs for us to use, so we ended up moving to chairs.

This photo shows the interior of the house. It is probably typical of middle class families.

Here you see some of the offerings being made to the interested gods and goddesses. That was the first thing that happened.

Putting bangles (bracelets) on the arms of the mother-to-be is the main activity. The first one must be neem wood, representing security for the mother and baby; the second gold and the third silver. The substance of the remainder doesn’t matter. I have been told three reasons for the bangles. The one I like best is that the jingling sound they all make is pleasant for the unborn baby to hear. Another is that the noise they make helps make the mother more alert when she gets up in the night so that she won’t stumble or fall and thus risk hurting the baby. The last I like the least, which is that bangles cost next to nothing, and so it isn’t a costly celebration. At any rate, the mother removes all the bangles after delivery.

Here is Joyce Hanson, wife of the Rising Star Outreach general director. The women go up one at a time to put the bangles on the mother. Once all the bangles had been placed on the mother’s arms, the men were called up to put ash on the foreheads of both parents to bless them and the baby.

These are the proudly expecting parents. The flowers and jewelry are very much like that worn for weddings.

The mother-to-be. You can see her flowers and jewelry a little better.

No celebration would be complete without food. Here are most of us foreigners on the roof of the house, ready for lunch. Banana leaves are commonly used for plates. They are quite sanitary and can be thrown away after.