We recently purchased two new cars (long story!) and the above video is a glimpse into the car puja that was had when the new vehicles got home.
A car puja - very simply - is a ceremony to consecrate or bless a new car.
Hindus bless most items that are used in daily life. Kushal and Surrender both arranged for a pujari (priest) to come to the home.
Typically, the owner of the car participates in the puja, but Todd and I decided we'd rather have the drivers participate ... and that request was met with many giggles!
I'll give you a brief description of the steps that were shown in the video (although I honestly can't remember if this was the right order).
Kushal and Surrender first accepted holy water (with rose petals) from the pujari to wash their hands. It was repeated three times. It is a rule to accept things into the right hand, so you can see both men cupping their left hand under their right.
The pujari drew a swastika (auspicious Hindu symbol that means "be well") with the third finger of his right hand (an auspicious finger). This is drawn on the car with turmeric powder mixed with water.
After the swastika is drawn, Kushal and Surrender were given rice, three times, to bless the swastika by sprinking rice on it.
One of the guards lit incense sticks. The pujari took them, and handed them to each driver to circle around the swastika three times in a clockwise direction.
(All throughout this process, the pujari was reciting mantras ... I believe in prayer to Lord Ganesha?)
There was also a point where string was tied to the wrists of each person present. Also, string was tied to the steering wheel of each vehicle. We then received turmeric powder on our foreheads ... although interesting to note, Shanti, Mia and I were required to put our own paste on.
There was also the breaking of coconuts on the street (must be near the right front tire of the car) and then the coconut water sprinkled on the cars. To close out the ceremony, the pujari instructed each driver to hold a strand of their hair (not sure why?), and the decoration of the hood of the car was finalized with a sash, apple, indian sweet, money, the incense sticks and marigolds.
The final step was to give sweets to everyone present ... and the puja was complete!
You have the shortened version (2.5 minutes). The two vehicles took about 90 minutes ... interesting!
