Silver for Baby

We believe literally in 'Born with the silver spoon'.

As soon as the baby is born, grandmothers and grandfathers are so excited not to forget the parents.

They all rush to the jewellery shops to buy jewellery in gold and utensils in silver. Most of them they buy all this in advance and keep! Again what everyone buys is according to their financial status.

A small utensil called "Paaladai" is used to feed the baby medicines. A unique shape.

I find fillers less punishable:)

Then a silver bowl with a silver spoon.
Again a hand-raised silver plate. I know what you are thinking. The baby is just born!

But we need a reason to buy silver and gold:)

And a silver glass to drink milk.

Recently I saw a silver feeding bottle!

I visited a silver shop to buy a lamp and I requested the owner to take some pictures of baby items.

He agreed and was so nice to unpack them and he himself took all the photos and sent it thru Whatsapp!

Here are the pictures.

The second one is the "Paaladai" that is used to give medicines to babies.

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Baby Jewellery

In India, jewellery is given or gifted for every function and the affluent give also for the festivals.

The baby's jewellery start right from when the baby is in the mother's womb. Not joking!

In TamilNadu, at the seventh month or ninth month of pregnancy a function is conducted for the pregnant girl.
It is called Valaikaapu, valai meaning bangles.

In this function, all ladies in the family bless the pregnant girl, that her delivery and the kid should be safe. In this function all elders put a lot of colored bangles on the pregnant girl's hand. Every lady who is a guest for the function is also given half a dozen of bangles. Special kid's bangles are also ordered for the little girls in the function.

The pregnant girl is supposed to wear all the bangles till her delivery!

One important part of the function is, a particular bundle is given to the pregnant girl.
The bundle contains small baby bangles in black color. She has to keep it careful and when the baby is born they wear on the baby for some days.

The parents usually gift the girl with gold bangles. Recently I attended a valaikaapu of my cousin where she was gifted with these gold bangles and I have already written about with pictures on another blog.

Jimikis/Jhumkis

It is the favourite jewellery of all women, especially the younger ones. It has got hundreds of designs all over India. North Indians wear a different type and south Indians wear a different one. These are worn for weddings mostly since they are heavy and big.

There is an ornate stud from which a long inverted cone or basket like shape hangs again with filigree work and with stones, or with stone work or with pearls. The one with pearls are very traditional in Tamilnadu, and the Bharathanatiyam dancers wear this type.

The little girls wear small jimikis with their traditional silk skirt and blouse especially on functions and festivals.

Its a delight to see small girls even one year babies are sometimes dressed up with small jumkis.

Maatal

Maatal is thin ornament that acts as a support to the studs or long earrings. If the earrings are heavy or if the wearer has a big hole in the ear where the studs dont sit correctly, then the "maatal" give support.

It falls between the back of the earring and the hair behind the ear. The end finding is pinned to the hair to prevent it from falling.

Not only this acts as a support but also beauty to the wearer when seen from sideways.

There are stone studded maatal, plain ones, and also simple ones that are worn around the ear front and back. This type is mostly worn by elder women.

Maatal are worn by younger girls and little ones too.

Workshop on Terracota Jewellery making

We are conducting a workshop on Terracota, Silver, Fashion, Polymer Clay jewellery making in Chennai, India. Those interested please call 9003288051. Online classes are also available.

Bangle jewellery function - Valaikaapu

This is another important function held in our state. Every girl who is pregnant will go through this function. This is called Valaikaapu and is conducted when she is 7 months or 9 months pregnant. Valai in Tamil means Bangle.
The name itself indicates that this is a function with Bangles.

In this function, elders bless the pregnant girl that her delivery should be safe. Lot of sweets, fruits and a silk saree are gifted to her. Most important are Bangles. She is adorned with dozens of glass bangles and depending upon the affluency of the parents, given gold bangles too.

The guests are all women and everyone are presented with glass bangles.
Recently I attended my cousin's valaikaapu and here are the pictures. You can see the gold bangles and the glass bangles in the picture.

This is how it is given to the guests. They can also wear them on hand in the function. In earlier days the girl's parents used to arrange for a bangle-seller to visit the house and give bangles to everyone

 Below is the close up shot of the bangle.