What is GUFA and Surya Darshan?
What is GUFA and Surya Darshan?
It is a traditional ritual for a Newari girl to marry the Sun. One of their unique traditional ritual is “Gufa”, when a girl of age between 12-14 years old has to stay in a dark room for twelve days before menstruation. Gufa is also known as ”Surya Darshan”, a marriage with Sun on 12th day.
What is a GUFA ritual?
Gufa—also known as Surya Darshan or “sun’s observation”—is a unique ritual. It is a puberty ceremony of a girl and her life- long connection with the sun.
What is a GUFA?
Gufa, in its literal translation means cave. Just like in the cave where darkness seeps deep within its wall as the sun’s ray cannot penetrate, in the ritual of Gufa, a young girl who just had her first period is hidden in a dark room for twelve consecutive days.
What is meant by Bel Bibaha?
Bel Bibaha : A daughter born in a Newar clan gets married three times. Not to marry the groom (man) three times. The first marriage is performed before menstruation, with Suvarna Kumar, the symbol of Lord Vishnu. This is what is called in Newar language.
What is Newari culture?
Newar, people who comprise about half the population of the Kāthmāndu Valley in Nepal. They speak a language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family, but their culture has been strongly influenced by Indian religious and social institutions. Most of the Newar are Hindus, but some practice an Indian form of Buddhism.
How do you say GUFA in English?
A cave is a large hole in the side of a cliff or hill, or under the ground.
What is bel fruit called in English?
stone apple
The English name for bael is stone apple, as its rather large fruit is like pale yellow to golden orange when ripe. In Sanskrit, it is called bilva or sriphal or shivadruma (the tree of shiva), while in Hindi, it is referred to as bel or bael or sripal (Kritikar and Basu, 1984).
What is Bratabandha ceremony?
Bratabandha is a complex Hindu ceremony where boys, between 8 and 12, take the first steps in learning the traditional laws, ceremonial roles and rituals of their caste. Before the ceremony boys wear a traditional orange headband pierced with a porcupine spine, for protection from evil.
Is Newar a Buddhist?
Newar Buddhism is the form of Vajrayana Buddhism practiced by the Newar people of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It has developed unique socio-religious elements, which include a non-monastic Buddhist society based on the Newar caste system and patrilineality.
What is the role of family in Surya Darshan?
The family plays a very vital role during this ceremony of Surya Darshan on the 12 th day. Each member has his/her own role to perform in order to successfully marry the girl off to the Sun God. The girl child’s father, mother, grandmother, aunt and marital uncle have the most important roles during the ceremony.
What does GUFA in Newari mean in Nepal?
If you’ve ever lived in Kathmandu, you have for sure been to a Newari Sukul Bhoj, which means a dinner/lunch on a mat instead of a table. Another thing you have surely heard is that a Newari girl is keeping her Gufa. Gufa is a Newari tradition that equates to the marriage of a Newari young child to the Sun.
Why was the Sun marriage of Newari Gufa important?
It is believed that this marriage depicts the transition of a girl child into an adolescent and hence, must compulsorily be carried out before the girl starts to menstruate. The Sun, which lives on for eternity, protects the girl child from the bad people and omens after her marriage with the Sun.