Bel/Ami
Latest[Kathmandu, February 22. Image via Getty]
A Newari girl prepares herself before the traditional Ihi ritual in Kathmandu on February 22, 2010. Girls aged odd years before their puberty see their first official marriage ceremony to Bel, a fruit of an wood-apple tree. The two-day ceremony which begins with purification rituals and ends with ‘Kanyadan’ (giving away the virgin) of the girl by her father. In the life of a Newari girl, she gets married thrice: one with the wood-apple tree fruit, second with the sun and finally to a human later in life. AFP PHOTO/Prakash MATHEMA (Photo credit should read PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
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