Divya wrote:

In our family also.. we usually do the ear piercing for both boys and girls. Its said that it helps in subsiding the anger in the babies.... Dont know to what extent its true though. Here is a link which talks about the benefits of ear piercing 

http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/desi-wisdom-7-things-you-didnt-know-about-ear-piercing/

Interesting article, thanks for sharing. I was not aware that ear piercing helps to reduce the anger in babies.. I am sure there must be some scientific reason behind this - anger and ear piercing..

I am not sure about the benefits of piercing the ears but in our community, piercing ears has a cultural significance related to death. Ears are pierced at the age of 3 years or 5 years. Those children whose ears have not been pierced if they die are buried in the ground but if they die after the ear piercing ceremony they are cremated with full rituals.

jabeen wrote:

I am not sure about the benefits of piercing the ears but in our community, piercing ears has a cultural significance related to death. Ears are pierced at the age of 3 years or 5 years. Those children whose ears have not been pierced if they die are buried in the ground but if they die after the ear piercing ceremony they are cremated with full rituals.

Never heard about this kind of tradition before. So does it mean a person who does not have ear pierced, he is just buried in the ground after the death without performing the full rituals? 

Bajirao wrote:

jabeen wrote:

I am not sure about the benefits of piercing the ears but in our community, piercing ears has a cultural significance related to death. Ears are pierced at the age of 3 years or 5 years. Those children whose ears have not been pierced if they die are buried in the ground but if they die after the ear piercing ceremony they are cremated with full rituals.

Never heard about this kind of tradition before. So does it mean a person who does not have ear pierced, he is just buried in the ground after the death without performing the full rituals? 

Of course they are buried with rituals but those rituals are different from the rituals performed for cremation of an adult.

jabeen wrote:

I am not sure about the benefits of piercing the ears but in our community, piercing ears has a cultural significance related to death. Ears are pierced at the age of 3 years or 5 years. Those children whose ears have not been pierced if they die are buried in the ground but if they die after the ear piercing ceremony they are cremated with full rituals.

So I guess, ear piercing is a kind of initiation ceremony for the kids in your community, much like baptism in Christians or thread ceremony in my community!

I never knew that ear piercing of males has deep rooted cultural and traditional significance. Even it is regarded beneficial which is a piece of information for me. I always thought that it's just an ultra modern fashion statement.  

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

jabeen wrote:

I am not sure about the benefits of piercing the ears but in our community, piercing ears has a cultural significance related to death. Ears are pierced at the age of 3 years or 5 years. Those children whose ears have not been pierced if they die are buried in the ground but if they die after the ear piercing ceremony they are cremated with full rituals.

So I guess, ear piercing is a kind of initiation ceremony for the kids in your community, much like baptism in Christians or thread ceremony in my community!

Not exactly. Ear piercing ceremony is performed when the child is three years. We have the thread ceremony which is an initiation ceremony when he or she is about to enter the puberty.

3 years is a bit late as per kerala standards. Here mostly they do the ear piecing before the 1st bday. The younger the baby the lesser they will know the pain (that is the logic). Some do the ear piercing as early as 3 months also. I myself did the ear piercing for my daughter last weekend... she is 10 mnths old :)

Divya wrote:

3 years is a bit late as per kerala standards. Here mostly they do the ear piecing before the 1st bday. The younger the baby the lesser they will know the pain (that is the logic). Some do the ear piercing as early as 3 months also. I myself did the ear piercing for my daughter last weekend... she is 10 mnths old :)

Even here in Maharashtra we pierce ears very early, we got my son's done when was two months old.

MG Singh wrote:

jabeen wrote:

Among the meitei community of Imphal that I belong to, traditionally boys also wear earrings. Their ears are pierced in a big ceremony. However nowadays once they reach teenage, they feel embarrass being seen with earrings and most of them take it out after they become teenagers

Interesting information Jabeen, I have been so many times to Manipur and noticed it but nowadays its very less. I aree its not macho to wear ear rings

In Rajsthan people of Jodpur, Bikaner, Jaipur like to bear tops (Long) in years.