The “Anna Prasana” ceremony is performed for the child to introduce the solid food. This ritual is held on the 6th day of the 6th month of the child. For example, if your child was born on 1st of January, then the ceremony date will be 6th of June. By this age, the child will have his/her first teeth sprouted which is one of those indications that he/she is ready to digest solids. If the child is weak, this ritual can be performed on the 8th day of 8th month. If you cannot perform this ritual on these two days, you can choose an auspicious day in the 6th month or in the 8th month as per Thidi, Vara, Nakshatra to conduct this event.
This ceremony is carried out either at the temple (Annapurna Devi temple is preferred) or at the home with help of a priest. The host family (parents of the child) invites the guests to attend this event. The paternal grandparents would bring a silver bowl and spoon to offer the first food, Sweet Payasam, to the baby.
Payasam is made of rice, cow’s milk, jaggery, and ghee. Do not use nuts or cardamom. Cook it to a paste-like consistency for easy digestion for the child.
After the bath, dress up the baby in new clothes (bought by his/her parents or grandparents preferably). Arrange the puja items requested by the priest. The priest will conduct this ritual by reciting prayers to the lord Ganesha followed by goddess Annapurna Devi and to your favorite deity. Payasam is offered to the deities as “Prasadam” in a silver bowl. After the puja, the priest will ask the father to feed the “Payasam Prasadam” to the child. The father dips the golden ring in the Payasam bowl and offers to the baby to lick on it while the priest chants the “mantras”. He feeds the baby for three times and blesses him/her with Akshithalu. The same process is followed by the grandparents, mother, and guests at the event. During the ritual, the child sits in his/her mother’s lap or with the person he/she is comfortable with facing east. From now on, solid foods can be given to the child in small quantities.
A fun filled game is held after the event. During this game, the baby is encouraged to crawl and pick up the objects placed near him/her. If your baby is not crawling yet, feel free to lay the objects closer to the baby so that he/she can reach out to them using hands. The objects such as fruits, gold, money, book&pen, food,toys, flowers etc are laid in a row on a red carpet/cloth since the bright colors attract the babies at this age. Each object signifies something to do with baby’s future. The baby will have three attempts to catch the objects. It is believed that the first object touched by the baby symbolizes his/her future. For example, if your baby chooses Book & pen, he/she is believed to be blessed with knowledge and wisdom. If the child catches the same object more than once, he/she is believed to be excelled in that sector.
Book & Pen – Blessed with knowledge and wisdom
Fruits – Blessed with Good health
Gold / Money – Blessed with wealth
Payasam / Sweets/Food items – Blessed with passion for food
“Dhakshina” is offered to the Priest after the puja to get his blessings. Lunch or dinner is served to the guests after the main event is over. If the event is performed at the temple, you may have to purchase a ticket from the temple separately.
Preparations & Shopping checklist:
- Find out the auspicious time for the event
- Arrange the priest to conduct this ritual
- Get the list of items required for puja
- Shopping list: Purchase the items as per the list. Rice – 5lb, Incense sticks – 1pkt, beetle leaves -30, beetle nuts (10), flowers – 3 bunches, 3 types of fruits – 3 each, banana 1 dozen, coconuts -2,
- Kumkuma, turmeric, Sandalwood paste, Akshithalu
- Invite Guests
- Arrange food for the guests
- Silver bowl, spoon to offer payasam to the child
- SL: Silver bowl, spoon
- Prepare Payasam
- SL: Rice, Jaggery, ghee
- Arrange new dress for baby
- SL: Dress for baby
- Arrange the objects for the game
- Gold, cash, book& pen, fruits, food, toys, flowers etc
- Red Carpet to layout the objects for game
- Red Carpet
- Arrange Dhakshina for Priest. It is a monetary gift offered with Thambulam
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