text: Life-cycle ceremonies Elaborate ceremonies chronicle the life cycle of a Newar from birth till death. Newars consider life-cycle rituals as a preparation for death and the life after it. Hindus and Buddhists alike perform the "Sorha Sanskaar Karma" or the 16 sacred rites of passage, unavoidable in a Hindu person's life. The 16 rites have been shortened to 10 and called "10 Karma Sanskar" (). These include important events of a person's life like "Jatakarma" () (Childbirth), "Namakaran" () (Naming the child), "Annapraasan" () (First rice feeding ceremony), "Chudakarma" or "Kaeta Puja" (first hair shaving and loin cloth ceremony), "Vivaaha" () (Wedding), among others.
  Chudakarma ceremony and (Bare Chuyegu/Acharyabhisheka or Bratabandha/Upanayana)
  Once such important rite of passage ceremony among the male Newars is performing the loin-cloth and head-shaving ceremony called Chudākarma () followed by the Bratabandha or Kaeta Puja () which is traditionally performed for boys aged five to thirteen according to the religious affiliation Newars identify with.
  In this ceremony, Buddhist Newars – Gubhāju-Baré (Bajracharya-Shakya), Urāy, Jyapu and few artisan castes like Chitrakār – perform their Pravrajyā () ceremony by mimicking Gautama Buddha's ascetic and medicant lifestyle and the steps to attain monkhood and nirvana where the boy stays in a Buddhist monastery, Vihara, for three days, living the life of a monk and abandoning all material pleasures. On the fourth day, he disrobes and returns to his family and henceforth becomes a householder Buddhist for the rest of his life. The Buddhist priestly clan Gubhāju-Baré (Bajracharya and Shakya) go through an additional initiation ceremony called Bare Chuyegu (becoming a Baré) while Bajracharya boys are further required to go through Acharyabhisheka () which is a Tantric initiation rite that qualifies a Bajracharya to perform as a purohita.