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

Ceremonies are performed to solemnise notable 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 religious faiths, there are some days in a year which are observed with ceremonial performances like offering of puja, prayer, celebration of rituals etc. Such ceremonies may be performed by household members as required under the social/religious customs without incurring any expenditure for entertaining guests. On the other hand, it may happen that households have to spend some amount under different heads for the purpose of entertainment. Conventionally these expenditures are considered as an essential part of the ceremonies performed. The purpose of providing this block in this schedule is to estimate the amount of expenditure incurred by the household on these occasions under various broad groups of items e.g. food, fuel & light, clothing & footwear, misc. goods & services, durable goods etc. Hence only those ceremonies on which some amount of expenditure is involved should be listed in this block.