Finally, the day came, the big day for any mom-to-be! I would like to share my baby shower ceremony with my readers. Let’s go to a tour of pictures along with the significance of each tradition being followed.
The baby shower is a tradition celebrated in almost all parts of India which means filling the lap of the expectant lady. Each region has its own significant way to celebrate. Different regions have different names for the baby shower ceremony too.
Shrimant….Gujarat
Godh Bharai…..North region
Dohale Jevan…. Maharashtra
Seemandham…..Kerala
Shaad…..Bengal
Valaikappu…..South region
Since I belong to a Gujarati family, I’m going to share how this tradition is celebrated in Gujarati Families.
When it is celebrated?
Generally, it is celebrated in the third trimester of pregnancy when it is said the baby has reached the safer milestone. It’s held during the 7th month. Generally, it is preferred to have it at the start of the 7th month only. This is more like women oriented occasion. Men are not supposed to participate in this event except brother-in-law. All women sing a traditional song for the mother and her baby and the expectant mother is dressed up like a bride.
How is it celebrated?
Tying Rakhi
The sister-in-law (Nanad), ties a rakhi (A cloth with certain things inside for the well-being of mother and baby) to the mother-to-be. And it is not removed until the woman has her final delivery. After the delivery, it is tied to the cradle of the baby. Rakhi is also known as Panchmassi.
What is inside this cloth bag?
- a small piece of iron
- sand is taken from any crossroads
- chanothi (a small red fruit of a rare tree)
- hanuman ji’s mari (orange, sticky substance)
- Kodi (sea shell)
The Lord Ganesha Worship & Randal Matana lota
Any function or festival is incomplete without worshipping God. We worship the Lord Ganesha and Randal Maa. The expectant mother has to keep fast and is allowed to eat only after all rituals are finished. Here are some glimpses of pooja. (If you are not aware of the Randal Matana Lota, you can search on google for more detail.)
Washing hair
After the pooja is done, an expectant lady is supposed to wash her hair. In some traditions, it is believed that expectant women shouldn’t wash their hair until Shrimant, is weird but true. 😦 Imagine you can’t wash your hair from the day you conceived until the day of the baby shower. 😀 But it is also true that your hair will not get damaged nor you feel like you haven’t washed your hair for many months. This is something a part of faith. I also followed this ritual. 🙂
On the day of the baby shower, the mom-to-be is supposed to go to her mum’s home to wash her hair. After washing the hair, she is not supposed to tie her hair until the rest of the rituals are completed.
Feeling the Lap
This is the central part of the whole ceremony. The mom-to-be is supposed to exchange a whole coconut with water- Nadiyer, rice which symbolizes prosperity, abundance, and health. Other few things like Lagan Pado, Betel nuts, and silver coin with her sister-in-law or a family member ( who has not had a miscarriage, whole and healthy). They exchange this four times.
This procedure is repeated 2 times at mum-to-be’s mumma’s home and two times at in-law’s house. (In some traditions this process is to be done seven times also.)
After that, the brother-in-law gently slaps with Kumkum powder dipped fingers to mum-to-be’s cheeks. And mom-to-be also do the same with her brother-in-law. 😀
Washing the toe of goyni’s
First I would like to let you know the meaning of Goyni here. The married or unmarried lady whose toe is supposed to be washed by the expectant mom in honor of Randal Maa.
Mom-to-be washes the toe with warm water, followed by milk and again with water and applies kanku and rice grains on the toe. Also it is to be done on forehead. Please do check the photos below for more detailed information.
Lunch
Then the ceremony is followed by having lunch together. 🙂
The significance of this ceremony is to shower the blessing to mom-to-be and her unborn with happiness, joy and to celebrate the arrival of a new baby in the family. Everyone rejoices the moments together. 🙂
And at last here are some pics we had during baby shower photo shoot. <3
Have you been to any Gujarati Baby shower? Or you had your own baby shower this way? What were you experience so far? What are the things you enjoyed the most?
Do write me in a comment box below and share your experience with me. I would love to hear from you.
If you have any question regarding the logic behind the any tradition, feel free to ask me. 🙂
Happy blogging!
Hi i have a question
what do you do the rive and moong we use for the godbharai
and coconut etc
yes
Hi-Great explanation!
Do you know what gift/s the sister in law (the one who ties the raksha/rakhie) should take for the ceremony/puja for the expectant mom?
TIA
Hi Krupa,
Did the oiliness/greasiness in your hair go away with using sandalwood powder on hair and then removing it with towel dipped in lukewarm water ?
I am following the same tradition but having hard time to remove greasiness from my hair. I was told to use dried coconut powder, it helped to clean the scalp but left my hair very oily. I am still in my 4th month and have 3 more months to go. So was trying to find different alternatives to remove the grease from my hair
Hi Rima,
First of all, many many congratulations to you and your family! 🎉
Regarding hait oliness issue, that worked for me during my pregnancy. However, it depends on person’s individual scalp.
You can try rice powder. But to be frank, I haven’t used it ever in my pregnancy but have seen people using it and it was working for them.
Question about timing, my parents are saying the 8th month is not auspicious, and we are having difficulty calculating the months. 40 weeks is the pregnancy, so we wanted to do it 30th week. People are calculating that to be 7 month completed and running on 8th month. Could please share your thoughts on that. Thank you for sharing.
You can have this ceremony anytime after 4th month. It is said that once we cross the first trimester we are safe. You can held the ceremony during 5th, 7th or 9th month. Since many women have difficulties even during the 5th month, 7th month considered to be the best time to held the ceremony as it is starting of 3rd trimester. You can even do it in 9th month but there is no predictability when a woman is going to deliver the baby as there are many cases where a women have given a birth just in stating of the 9th month. So 7th month is considered to be the safest one.
Very nicely explained
Hi its great that have shared your experience Shrimant. I wanted to know how did you maintained ypur hairs without washing it for 7 months. Your tips would be helpful
Hi Rashmi,
I can understand the worry and concern you have!
My mother in law used to do 2-3 things once a week in oder to manage the hair properly!
Hot towel treatment – After applying the power you can remove it using hot towel. Deep the towel in luck warm water and apply in your hair like you want to remove the powder. So it will help the powder go away along with it will give you fresh feeling like washed hair!
Apply oil twice or thrice a week
Follow this cycle! Avoid applying oil if you have some plans to go out or need to attend any ceremony.
I hope this will be helpful.
I am a Marwadi married a Gujarati
Till now the only tradition I following is not washing my hair
Which is quite troublesome as the hair is looking too oily and shabby and I can’t really go out anywhere like that there are lot of functions and marriages to attend how can I go out without washing my hair…I really don’t understand how do you connect this no washing hair ritual with the unborn…there is no logical or scientific connection but you just have to follow as it’s a ritual
Hi Neha,
Thank you for stopping by my blog!
Yeah, it is ritual in my side! I used to asked my mom in law about this logic but she also don’t have the correct answer. However, we felt that there could be some logic. I used to surf on internet about the same and found some solid answers. You can check out the link below
https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/contribution-no-hair-wash-during-pregnancy-not-a-big-problem-to-worry-about/
Let me know if there is anything which you want me to answer!
I totally agree with you, not washing hair for 7 months is very weird n practically not possible. I wonder how is it possible to follow
Hi
Thanks for your wonderful post. I am Gujarati male but never attended baby shower. I am planning one for my wife next month. As we are living overseas and dont have any relative here.we are skipping Randal Matana lota but planning to do rest at our home such as 1.5 kg Chokha/rice etc. I wonder do we need to call Maharaj/pandit for it?
Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Hi @kunal,
I am really sorry that I could not replay you immediately. For the past few months I am not active on my blog! I think the time has already gone to reply on your query.!
wow so useful post.
Hii,
Nice to see ur post and its helpful to many women’s who have same rituals.
I have one question, if uh can give me reply, I want to ask that how can we make panchmassi??
Nice informative post. Some people say that you can’t perfrom ceremony on Saturday.is there any particular reason for that?
Generally, it is said that we can do this either on Sunday or on Tuesday. As these days considered as days of the Goddess. Though in some case people do this ritual on Thursday even. But not other than these days.
what to do when u enter in ur mammas house?i am taking about the rituals performed after shrimant first time u go to mammas home then what to do?
Can you be a goyni if you are pregnant?
Sorry, you can’t..
Thank you for the reply!
Your baby shower traditions are rich and meaningful…an it looks like you all really enjoyed the time together. Thanks so much for sharing this, and all the best as these next months unfold!
Yeah, We enjoyed a lot. 🙂
Thank you so much for the wishes. Would like to hear from you.
Keep visiting my blog. 🙂
Nice post , good photos
I have one query , is this ceremony done at home or can be done outside at some hall
It is up to you. It can be don at home or at hall. There is not any such restriction.
Hi, I’m a tamilian who married a gujarati husband.. And now that I’m pregnant I was looking for inspiration and ideas of the rituals done in gujarati tradition.. Thank you for this blog.. Is that your marriage saree that you are wearing?? Is it necessary to wear marriage saree?? And my mother in law mentioned about some green saree that my mom has to give me.. Please do tell me more about that.. And if i should wear the green saree or my marriage saree for my baby shower.
Hi Tejaswi,
Thank you for stopping by my blog and kind words for liking the post.
Also, many many congratulations to you and your family.🎉🎉
I hope the little one is doing good! 😄
Regarding the query you asked about tradition and saree, I will do a seperate post so that it can be helpful to you.
Have a nice day! TC 😊
which colour saree or dress is wored for baby shower in gujrati culture ?
You have made a fabulous post with photos. Congratulations and best wishes 🙂
Thank you very much. 🙂
Keep visiting my blog. I would like to hear from you. 🙂
Nice post , good photos
I have one query , is this ceremony done at home or can be done outside at some hall
Hi ,
I just have one question, the part where mother-to- be have to exchange nariyal is the opposite member has to be a mother or can a married woman can do this with mother to be again who not a mother but married only?
Beautifully have put the traditional details for Simant , Thank you !🙏