India - Household Consumer Expenditure, NSS 54th Round, Schedule 1, January - June 1998

Ceremonies are performed to solemnize some events of life, e.g. birth, marriage etc. Members of a household may have to perform some religious rites consequent upon the death of a person. For various religions, faiths, there are some days in a year which are observed with ceremonial performances like offering puja, prayer, ritual performances etc. Some of such ceremonies may be performed by household members as required under the
social/religious customs without incurring expenditure for entertaining guests. On the other hand, some households may spend some amount of money for entertaining guests with meals which are considered as an essential part of the ceremonies performed by them. Code 1 will be entered in the box space provided against this item if at least one ceremony had been performed by the household during the last 30 days preceding the date of enquiry, and code 2 will be entered if no such ceremony was performed by the household.