girls, the left nostril may also be pierced during this ritual. The piercing of the earlobes symbolically reminds the child, as he or she grows up, of beauty and social presence, of the importance of hearing and speech in the wisdom of the Vedas. Child's commencement to knowledge, Vidyarambha Vidyarambha (IAST: Vidyāraṃba, Sanskrit: विद्यारम्भ) literally means "beginning of study". It is also known as Akshararambha, Aksharaabhyaasa, or Aksharasvikara. It is a ritual that celebrates as a milestone, the child's formal attempt to learn means of knowledge. This includes steps where the child, helped by the parents and other family members, does one or more of the following: writes letters of the mother-tongue, draws mathematical numbers or shapes, and plays a musical instrument. The oldest texts that describe rites of passage, such as the Dharmasutras, make no mention of Vidyarambha and go direct to Upanayana ritual at the eighth year. The later texts, such as the Samsakara Prakasha, from the first centuries of 1st millennium CE, mention Vidyarambha as a rite of passage in the fifth year of a child's life, suggesting that the process of learning started shifting to an earlier age of a child with time. The ceremony is observed on the same day for all children in their fifth year, on the day of Vijayadasami which is on the tenth of the Hindu month Ashvin (September–October). It includes a prayer to goddess Saraswati and deity Ganesh, a teacher is invited or the parents themselves work with the child to write Lipi (letters of the alphabet), draw Samkhya (numbers) or pictures, and sometimes play with an instrument. In modern times, parents mark this rite of passage in the third year of the child. Child's entrance into school, Upanayana Upanayana (IAST:Upanayana, Sanskrit: उपनयन) literally means "the act of leading to or near". It is an important and widely discussed samskara in ancient Sanskrit text. The rite of passage symbolizes the leading or drawing towards the self of a child, in a school, by a teacher. It is a ceremony in which a Guru (teacher) accepts and draws a child towards knowledge and initiates the second birth that is of the young mind and spirit. Upanayana was an elaborate ceremony, that included rituals involving the family, the child and the teacher. During this ceremony, a boy receives a sacred thread called Yajñopaveetam, that he wears. Yajñopavita ceremony announced that the child