Birthday Party

Last week we were invited to go to our housekeeper's daughter's (Ramier) 18th birthday party. We were honored to be invited and had fun celebrating with her. It was interesting to see some of their traditions. One is somewhat like our wedding cake in the States...the birthday girl cut a piece of cake and each person at the party took turns standing next to her and taking a bite of the cake while she fed it to them. She had her picture taken each time as well. She got gifts and blew out her candles.

In the pictures you can see that she and her family don't smile when posing for the camera. I think it is a cultural thing. Ramier has a beautiful smile but she didn't show it for any of her pics.

In the picture with all of us you'll notice behind Ramier that there is a poster of an elephant looking creature. This is Ganesh, a popular hindu god here. They had a whole shrine of "household gods" set up. That is what they call them too. It brought to life the Old Testament talk of people having "house hold gods". I had never seen that until coming here. Also if you can see the poster behind Ramier and her aunt (lady in red saree) it has 2 big houses, a new shiny red car and a manicured lawn. The quote at the top said "Arise, awake, do not rest until the goal is reached". Hindus believe that when you die if you've done enough good works you come back in your next life with more material possesions. You keep coming back into different lives until you've reached your richest status then die and go to heaven. This poster motivates them to do good works and strive for material possesions. Very sad.