The Ihi ceremony is a Newar ritual in which girls are symbolically married to a bael fruit when they are between the ages of 5 and 9. The bael fruit is a symbol of the Hindu deity Vishnu or the Buddha.
The Ihi ceremony is performed to protect girls from the stigma of widowhood in the Newa community. In this community, widows are not ostracized by the community even if their husbands pass away because they are still considered to be married to the gods Vishnu and Sun.