Ihi
The Newar rite in which a girl is married to the bel fruit, before she is married to a man.
Also: bel bibaha, bel marriage, ihee
Ihi is a ceremony of the Newar people of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal in which girls, usually before puberty, are married to the bel fruit, the wood apple, as a symbol of the god Vishnu or of the divine. Because the marriage is held to the god, who is never dead, the girl cannot be widowed in the eyes of the community, and a later wedding to a man is treated as a second one. It is performed in groups at once, with priests and family. Some Newar women have called for it to be reconsidered, and the practice is changing in the diaspora.
Region: South Asia