CHAPTER III

ADOLESCENCE



Between the ages of ten and sixteen
Burman lads enter upon the monastic
novitiate, an occasion celebrated with a
brilliant fete. The adoption of a religious
life by girls is much less general, even for
the short time it is embraced by the
youths ; and when it is adopted, there is
no ceremony. But a holiday answering to
that of the boy's novitiate is held in honour
of the girl, especially when she is the first-
born child — thami-ii. In her case the ear-
boring ceremony, if not the piercing itself
is deferred to the age of ten or twelve. The
child, equipped in royal attire, or an imita-
tion of it, and wearing a queen's crown
{sibSn), is the centre of a great gathering of
relatives and friends, who are entertained
with music and plays.
The lad who has prepared to renounce the world for a season, or it may
be for life, is called shinldung. The skinldung festivals usher in the religious
or lenten season — wa, June to September — the season of rain in Bahar,




30. THAMI-U ARRAYED FOR HER FETE.
MONASTIC NOVITIATE



15




31. SHINLAUNQ ARRAYED FOR HIS FETE.
the home of the Buddha. In
order to accentuate the re-
nunciation of the world which
the lad is making, he is ar-
rayed and attended like a
prince and makes a royal
progress on horseback or in
a chariot to the monastery.
