Macha Junko ( Rice Feeding Ceremony )
The next ceremony in the child’s life takes place when he or she is six months old. At six months of age, the child is fed his first grains of rice, the staple food of Nepal. This ritual is known in Nepali as annaprasan or rice feeding (or jankoo in Newari). The child is readied in red and gold traditional clothing since the ceremony usually takes place at a temple.
Most Newars worship both Buddhist and Hindu deities and, like the Hindus, they believe that dedicating the beginnings to lord Ganesh is auspicious. That is why the annaprasan takes place in front of a sukunda that has the image of Ganesh carved on it. Some perform the annaprasan at Ganesh temples situated in the neighborhood or at the popular ones located at the outskirts of Kathmandu.
A popular temple for the ritual is the Jal Binayak temple in Chobhar, right on the lap of the gorge where in mythology Manjushri cut down a hill with his mighty sword and drained the lake that was Kathmandu valley. The ceremony of feeding rice mixed with a little cow’s milk from a silver spoon to the baby. All members of the family feed the child in turn. In an associated ritual, the baby is offered a silver coin, a piece of fruit and a pen or pencil, on a plate. Family members wait to see which article the child will touch or pick up first, as a sign of the direction the child’s life will take. A silver coin represents a desire for prosperity, a pencil represents a desire for education and food represents a desire for materialistic pleasures. For a girl child this particular ceremony takes place when she is five months old.
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