First Hair Cutting

First Hair Cutting After the first grain ceremony, the Mundan or first hair cutting is the next samskara that may be performed. Different families perform this ceremony at different ages. As in all samskaras, family, friends and a Hindu priest get together in the home or in a temple. Vedic Hindu Mantras are recited, a sacred fire (Havan/Homa) is evoked and the priest, with the help of the father or maternal uncle, cuts small locks of hair from four sides of the child’s head. After this ritual cutting, the child’s hair is completely shaved. There is a belief that the first hair from the time of birth is impure and so shaving it off is purification, but more importantly, the real point of the samskara is that it is a sacrifice. The parents of the child sacrifice; the beauty of their child by shaving their child’s head, and in exchange they ask God for long life and prosperity for their child.