It is a common practice among the people Bhutan to conduct Lhabsang-Thruesel (a ritual) whenever the family has a newborn. This is a household rite and take place on the third day after a child is born and before that all the outsiders and guest are kept at bay believing that he house is polluted by impurities. The ritual ceremony is usually conducted on the morning of the third day before the arrival of relatives, friends and neighbours for the showering. The mother or any of the family member will give a light shower to the baby and dress up with new clothes to present to the lama. Until then, the baby will not get suits and will be clothed with any of soft napkin and blanket. It is on the third day of his/her life that the parents will formally give baby suits and dress the baby.
The father makes an appointment with a lama, gomchen, or monk to conduct the ceremony after the child is born and do necessary arrangement in the altar before their arrival. The host will offer a tea and breakfast to the lama before starting the rituals. After the breakfast, with the burning of incense in the altar and sang (burning juniper branches for local deities) outside the house, the lama will start the ceremony. By burning incense and juniper branches, it is believed to purify/cleanse/remove the impurities both interior and exterior environment of the house through smoke. After the ceremony, the lama will give blessing to the baby with all his good wishes and prayers. Why is the ceremony conducted normally on the third day? and why not in any of the other days? is a question that many people have. If you want to find out the answer to the above question, go through the story narrated below.
“This is my eight month of pregnancy and what will I have afterbirth food”, Lhamo asked her husband Taupo. Taupo became blank and gave no answer for a short while and then later comforted her with his plan to go for hunting. The next day, Taupo set away from home leaving his pregnant wife at home for hunting. Going for hunting was not easy, near for Taupo, and did not guarantee what he could catch up. He spent the whole day inside the forest expecting to find some animals but failed his mission. He curse the sun for setting too early before he could find something for his wife and decided to stay the night in the forest. The night became dreary and he then sought a refuge from a big tree by uttering, “Please do kindly give me your protection, I shall spend my night under you”. The tree accepted Taupo to be a guest for that night and then laid under the tree to sleep. Into the darkness, the spirits and ghost came to attack Taupo and when they were about to attack him; the tree that he took refuge spoke, “this man is my guest and he is here under my protection. You are not allowed to harm him”. The spirits and the ghost then left him unharmed. Taupo felt godly to the tree and set for his search the next day.
With a wish to find and get something, Taupo went across the mountains and valleys, but nothing favoured him. Soon he reached near to a big boulder before the night and sought refuge from the boulder, “Please do kindly give me your protection, I shall spend my night under you”. With this, Taupo slept close to the boulder and before dawn, he heard the spirits calling each other to go for a baby showering and give a life. The spirits said, “a new guest has come on to this earth and we must give a life before the god could give”. Shortly again Taupo heard the spirits exchanging words, “we have given his life to tiger and fire”. In the mid of listening to the conversation of the spirits, the dawn broke and Taupo woke up. He then became mindful that his wife might have given a birth and headed home without any hunt of animals. He reached home and found his wife had given a birth to a boy child. Being haunted and electrified by the conversation of the spirits, he looked around in the fireplace to see any firebrand or ember to save as he had heard the life of his child is given to fire. He found a firebrand in the fireplace and took it out to save it. He dipped it into the water and then kept it on the drying rack over the fireplace.
The couple led their life happily with their son, enjoying whatever they have for the life. One day, Taupo went for a business and his little son accompanied him besides repeated denial to take him together. Their journey was quite long requiring a night halt on the way and as usual, they spend the night under a tree, taking refuge from the tree. The father and the son made a big fire to warm themselves from the cold night. They maintained a big ember and the father decided to sleep close to fireplace keeping his son beside him remembering that the spirits had given the life of his son to fire. The night drove flawlessly and there came a tiger to attack them. The son was in deep sleep while the father remain busy to guard him from the tiger. Somehow, the father could killed the tiger as he being a hunter. The dawn broke the night and the son woke up form his deep somber. The father narrated the story of the tiger and told the son that it had come to attack him. On showing the carcass of atiger, the son kicked it before the father could stop him from kicking. Unluckily, the tiger’s claws pierced his foot and penetrated deep inside causing great pain. Nothing cured his wounds and further put him into death. Eventually, the son died uttering a cry of dismay as nothing cured him. To this, that is what we say, བསྐོས་པའི་ལཱ་ལས་བྱོག་མི་ཐལ།(There is no escape from fate).
People believed that the child will be unknown to any of the godly spirits and devil spirits before three days and they will know only by the third day after birth. This is a probable reasons for performing Lhabsang (purification ceremony) on the third day considering that the child is formally taken over by the god and goddess and not by the devils. If the family does not perform Lhabsang on the third day, they would wait for someone to come to their house and it is believed that the first person whoever comes first to their house would bring the life and fortune of the child. Therefore, the first person to come to their house will have to take charge to wish the child and give some words. Unbelievably, many parents say that the traits of a child matches the first person who had come to their house on the third day or the first person who had touched the child after birth. Take your own chance and observe it with your child to confirm …
Have anyone spent a night under a tree or a cave? What is the reason?
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