A Family affair

Yesterday was one of my niece Navjote Ceremony, I have mentioned about this ceremony before in one of my blogs but will give a little brief on it again. It's a ceremony we do for the children of our community before the age of 11, where they are initiated into the Zoroastrian religion faith. The priest does the ceremony for the child and it is attended by all family and friends. It is always a grand affair. Though there are people who do it in simple ways also. It is about each one's financial capability. It is a ceremony of big significance in our tradition so normally parents start saving for it some years in advance. These days it has also become a little show business and everyone tries to do it in ways better then others.

This ceremony was also done in a grand manner. My cousin had invited some close to 300 people for the ceremony. This is comparatively less then the normal crowd. Normally it is 500 to 600 people who attend the function. It is nothing less then a wedding.

That's the stage set up where the ceremony is performed.

I had reached early for the ceremony since it was a family thing, so I was able to take some clear pictures before all the other guests arrived. That's the seating arrangement for all the guests.

The priests have started performing the ceremony

Some of the traditional things which are kept in the ceremony. This is called a Ses, and every item in this has some significance. This also has to be made from German Silver

The ceremony is being performed by 4 priests

There is a play area for Children, since this ceremony is for children, these kind of things are arranged for their entertainment.

The other parts of the place

That's the traditional way of dining. We all sit in a row on the table and the food is served on a banana leaf. The most special part about this ceremony is the food, there are very traditional dishes which are served and we really enjoy the food. There are dishes of Fish, Chicken, Mutton and Veg food also.