Sindhi traditions and rituals () refers to some Sindhi practices that span a person's life. They differ across regions.
Muslim pregnancy and birth traditions
Pregnancy During the seventh month of a woman's pregnancy, a celebration called khunba is held. Close female relatives, friends and neighbors are invited and traditional folk songs (e.g., sehra, lada, and geech) are sung. Guests put rice, fruits, and dry fruits into the pregnant mother's lap and give money (ghor) to her. After the celebration, she goes to her maternal home, where she lives with her parents for the remainder of her pregnancy and gives birth to the child.
Birth When a child is born, the Bangha (adhan) is recited in their right ear and Kalmas in the left ear by an older man or the baby's father. Families hold celebrations where they serve sweets. The child's umbilical cord is buried on the side of the house's door. The dai is given money and clothes. On the birth of a male child, the game of colors (Rangan ji Rand) is also played.
On the night after the birth, the mother's female relatives gather to present milk, handmade clothes, gold rings, food, small rallis called rilka, and other items as gifts to the mother and her newborn. Black threads called dhagha or sagra are tied on the baby's wrists and ankles, gold rings are put on both hands, a ta'wiz is tied around their neck, surmo (kohl) is applied on the eyes, and marks or dots are made on the face for protection from the evil eye, while women sing traditional folk songs. The gifts given by relatives and neighbors are then shown to everyone.
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). These calls are repeated for six days, which is the usual time for refreshment offered to the guests. The child's body and face is massaged daily with oil called aadh before a bath. When the child sleeps, their body, arms, and legs are tightly tied in a cloth called tanjan or bandan. The baby sleeps on rilkas with small pillows, and a clay or wooden object with two poles called munh rakhi or rakhni with a cloth placed over it is placed above the child's head.
Chhattri Chhattri is celebrated on the sixth day after the child's birth. Relatives, friends and neighbors are invited, and a feast is prepared for guests. The celebration involves the playing of musical instruments such as the dhul, sharnai, and bagpipes.
The ceremony of akiko, or jandre, involves shaving the hair of male children when the boy is between three months and one year old. The immediate family, close relatives, and neighbors visit a nearby dargah, while women sing traditional folk songs. The principal part of the festivity is the sacrifice of a sheep without blemish, which must be slain according to the usual rules. The practitioners remove the flesh from the bones, carefully observing that none of the latter are broken, and with the former prepare a feast for the olema, relations and mendicants. When the child's hair has been shaved by a barber, the hair is weighed against silver or gold, which is later given in charity. The hair placed with the sheep's bones in the animal's skin is buried either in a mukam (burial ground) or at the threshold of the door. 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.
Child's walk ceremony
When a child starts walking a small celebration is done called pair mani, and the child is made to stand on an earthen plate and a thread is tied on their feet.
The ceremony of sathri or toharu (circumcision) is generally performed when the boy is eight years old. A feast of rice, meat, and other delicacies is prepared for the guests, and the festivities are accompanied by musicians and fireworks. The boy is dressed in saffron or white clothes and adorned with a morh (a kind of headdress on face), and garlands made of money. Henna is applied on the boy's hands and feet, and traditional folk songs are sung. The boy is then taken outside for sargas: the boy is mounted on horseback or in a car and led around the town to the sound of dhol, sharnai, instruments, singing, and gunfire. When he returns home, the boy is tied with a red lungi (sarong) and the barber performs the operation. Immediately after the operation, clothes and money are waved round the boy's head and given to the operator and the minstrels who are present, and food is distributed to beggars.
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. In the south, the father is made to stand instead of the mother, with his feet in water and a Koran on his head. 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).
Muslim wedding traditions Sindhi marriages are mostly arranged and done among relatives or in the same castes, but today love marriages are also common.
Pre-wedding rituals 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. If the girl's parents accept the proposal, then sweets and milk are served, and everyone prays for the new couple.
The manghni/manghno/pothi is a betrothal ceremony performed at the latest a month before the wedding, on the lucky day being any Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday in the months of Ramazan, Rabi el Akhar, Rajab, and Shaaban.
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. The bride's house is decorated before the guests' arrival, and the house usually divided into the two parties: the males sit together while the females are accompanied by a hajaman (barber's wife). The future bride is then dressed in the clothes and ornaments and seated in a conspicuous part of the room. The bridegroom's mother first puts a big embroidered veil pothi on the bride before putting the engagement ring on her finger. Then, each of the seven suhaganio married women applies oil on her hair and braids it while applying henna on her hands and feeding her sweets. 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. She compels them to drink with many compliments and congratulations, then sweets, dried dates and patasa are served for both men and women; those who are wealthy would serve zardo and sindhi pulao/biryani with other items. Men then dance with joy on the sound of dhol and sharnai. Afterwards, the men raise their hands and recite the Fatihah; after this the girl's father is asked to appoint some time for the marriage. He does so naming the month and day, upon which all parties rise up and leave the house. At this point it is considered improper to break off the match.
Between the betrothal and the wedding, the bridegroom's parents and relatives send the bride gifts on celebratory occasions such as Eid al-Fitr. Gifts might include money, sweetmeats, and clothing.
About a month before the wedding, wanah or wanhwa wiharanu is performed, which happens for five or seven days today. The family of the groom comes to the bride's house with some sweetmeats, clarified butter, fruits, dry fruits, perfumed oil, henna, and an akhiyo, a small piece of embroidered cloth used as a veil. The bride sits in a corner of a room with the akhiyo on her face until the wedding day. Some rituals like applying oil in hair by married women is also done called wanah ja sath with ladies singing traditional folk songs. Once these rituals are done and everyone leaves, the bride stays in one room, and no one is permitted to see her face. A female relative must be sitting with her throughout this time, as it is believed that evil spirits can harm the bride or bridegroom if they are left alone.
During this time, the bride has no obligations besides the religious obligations to pray five times a day; many brides will also recite the Quran and pray for herself and for her married life. 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. Until the wedding, the bride is only allowed to eat healthy food, made with fruits and homemade butter and oil. This is said to increase delicacy of skin and complexion. During wanah the bride's nose is pierced, as traditionally girls only pierced their nose when they plan to marry; it was considered bad for unmarried girls to pierce their nose.
The barber's wife attends every day to bathe and wash the bride with pithi (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. These preparations continue for many days, and during the whole period, visitors flock to the house and are accommodated by the bride's father. The ladies all sing traditional folk songs called sanjhri every evening from wanahu until the wihan (marriage). Many of these things are not done anymore due to modernization; the bride simply goes to a parlour or beauty salon for her cosmetics and grooming.
The bridegroom is given a dagger and a tasbeh in his hands and a gano (bracelet) to wear on his wrist. The groom carries the dagger and tasbeh all the time until wedding night, and an arhar is appointed to be with him all the time till wedding. He is also fed healthy homemade busri, churo or khorak, food made with cooking oil and butter, fruit, dry fruits, and milk. 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. He is also supposed to perform nimaz five times a day and recite the Quran and pray for himself and for his married life. The groom is shown to the public at Maulud commemorations of the Prophet's nativity, feasts given to the relations and friends of the family. Dance is also performed.
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. The bridegroom's uncle ties a mohr on the groom's face. He lies down on a khat, and his sisters, mother and other relatives apply henna on his hands and feet. The groom's family then goes to the bride's house and performs rituals called bukki ja sath. They give the bride her wedding dress, jewelry, ornaments, and cosmetics.
Parr diyanu is a ritual in which the bridegroom's family goes to a village's dargah and offers a chadar sheet of cloth with Quranic verses written on it; this sheet is called parr. They also offer fresh rose petals on the grave of the saint, as well as a distribution of sweets, dried dates, biscuits, or anything else they can afford to be distributed among the people present at the dargah.
Wedding rituals