Newar is the indigenous group of Kathmandu valley that used to make almost the entire population of the valley before the Shah invasion in 1968. Before the invasion of the valley, the three cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur were autonomous Newar kingdoms and the latter two cities still have large number of Newar residents.
Newars are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation.They form a community of primarily Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman.
The Newars perform several Life-Cycle Celebrations.
Bratabandha – Head shaving ceremony for boys aged 5 to 13 before the start of manhood.
Macha Janku- Rice feeding for kids. It usually to celebrate their first bite of solid food.
Ihi ceremony – Marriage of girls to wood apple, a symbol of lord Vishnu before their menstrual period.
Bahra / Gufa - Marriage of girls 7,9,11 to the sun god Surya.
Jankwa or Janku - Conducted when a person reaches 77 years, 7 months, 7 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes and 7 quarters as an honor.
It is very important that each person from the Newar culture strictly follows and performs each of these. These ceremonies play an important role as to how a person grows up with his culture.