Bel/Ami

[Kathmandu, February 22. Image via Getty]

A Newari girl prepares herself before the traditional Ihi ritual in Kathmandu on February 22, 2010. Girls aged odd years before their puberty see their first official marriage ceremony to Bel, a fruit of an wood-apple tree. The two-day ceremony which begins with purification rituals and ends with ‘Kanyadan’ (giving away the virgin) of the girl by her father. In the life of a Newari girl, she gets married thrice: one with the wood-apple tree fruit, second with the sun and finally to a human later in life. AFP PHOTO/Prakash MATHEMA (Photo credit should read PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)