Why Balinese babies are bald : Meaningfull traditions on a dreamy island
Perhaps you noticed...Local babies are all bald or with really short hair.
Probably you wonder why ?
There are actually a multitude of reasons to shave the babies hairs.
The main ones would be spiritual and an other one would be esthetic.
Esthetic because when the hair grows again after being shaved It looks thicker. To Balinese thicker hair are a sign that the baby is healthy and a sign of beauty. And like Balinese say : the hair is the crown of a lady !
Spiritual because when a baby born he goes through his mum's vagina, which one is consider dirty.
When giving birth, the head and especially the hair is what comes out first, It, then becomes spiritually soiled. By shaving the hair, the baby will become clean and then be able to enter temples.
When willing to go pray in a temple, there are a few rules to observe. Women in periods, who gave birth less than 42 days before or not yet shaved babies are consider dirty and not allowed to go in. So, If you never shave your babies hair, he or she will never be able to go pray inside a temple, such a thing is, of course, impossible to accept for a Hindu.
3 months ceremony at the beach before Julia got shaved
Traditionally a new born will have his head shaved 3 times before he gets 6 months old. Nowadays, some families still do It that way but others, more modern, only once or twice.
The baby is supposed to get shaved at each of his big ceremonies, the 42 days one, the 3 months one and his first Otonan (Balinese birthday) at 6 months.
Families who choose to do It only once will usually do it at the 6 months ceremony but It is not compulsory.
And now, why 3 times ?
Well, first, let me remind you that in Hindu we divide the spiritual world into 3 other worlds, the bad spirits world, the human world and the gods world.
We shave 3 times to respect the 3 worlds.
Personally, my daughter got shaved once, at her first Balinese birthday, I was not totally OK with that, as this is very uncommon in Europe, but I respected the traditions and finally It all went smoothly. My husband shaved her at home while she was sleeping and she didn't realise anything...
Until she saw myself in the big mirror !! Ahahhah she looked so funny !
And then, my husband decided to get bald too !! they were two bald heads at home !
I have learnt new things about hindu tradition. Enlightening writeup
Glad to share my experiences !!
If you don't tell me, I had no idea about this interesting tradition. I learned something new today and tradition is something hard to explain and people often follow without any clue or reasons.
Yes, and It's so interesting to research and find out why we do this or that . I love Hindu but It's a very tricky religion and I still have a lot to learn
But I guess the Hinduism in Bali is different from the one in India?
Yes , actually very different .
They pray and do offerings a different way.
Bali Hindu has for main god Brahma, the Destructor and India Vishnu.
Plus a lot more differencies but It's all so complicated !!
anyway, it's good to learn about the culture and tradition. And I have another question about Balinese, I remember everyone has the same name right? It goes like the eldest must have this name and the youngest is Ketut. Is that true?
Yes, there have 4 different names, first is Wayan or Putu, second is Made, third is Komang and thourth Ketut . If there is a fifth child he will be called Made again.
Luckily they all have nickname so we can make a difference
This tradition is also common in Java, not only in Bali, but we dont hold any ceremony for that. Thank you for sharing this interesting article :-)
oh !! I did not know that they do this in Java too , thanks for letting me know