The Anaaprashan Pooja, known as the 'Rice Ceremony', is a Hindu ritual performed to mark the infant's first intake of solid food, usually between the fifth and seventh month of the baby's life. This ceremony symbolizes the baby's initiation into a new stage of growth and development and is accompanied by prayers for health, prosperity, and a blessed future.

The ceremony typically involves several key steps: preparing a sacred pooja area, invoking deities through mantras, feeding the baby the first morsel of solid food (often rice or kheer) by a senior family member, and a symbolic ritual where the baby is presented with various items (like a pen, money, or book) to indicate future interests.

Family members take turns blessing and feeding the baby, followed by distribution of prasad and celebration. The infant is often dressed in new traditional clothes and adorned with jewelry.

Essential items include rice or rice pudding, water, flowers, lamps, incense, and utensils sometimes made from silver or brass considered auspicious.

This ceremony strengthens familial bonds and is a very meaningful rite of passage in Hindu culture.