Among the Santals, the great transitions of life—birth, marriage, and death—are framed as movements into deeper relationship with family, clan, and the world of spirits and ancestors. At birth, the child and mother are surrounded by a sense of ritual delicacy: the mother observes a period of seclusion and purification, while offerings are made to household spirits (bonga) for the protection of the newborn. Naming takes place only after some days have passed, when the initial liminal period has settled. Elders or a village priest preside over this rite, invoking ancestors and protective spirits, and simple offerings such as rice, grains, rice beer, or a fowl may be made. The child receives a Santal name, often resonant with lineage and ancestral ties, and with this act the infant is formally accepted into the family and clan, and the mother’s restrictions begin to ease.

Marriage, for the Santals, is not merely a private contract but a sacred and social alliance that binds lineages and reaffirms bonds with the spirit world. Clan exogamy is observed, and families negotiate the union through bride-wealth or gifts, along with ritual offerings. The ceremonies, often extending over several days, are rich with symbolic acts: sacred rice beer is brewed and shared, sacrifices and offerings are made to Marang Buru, the deities of the sacred grove, and the ancestors, and the couple may circle a sacred post or fire multiple times as a sign of entering shared life. Elders, the village priest, and the headman guide the couple through anointing, the tying of symbolic cords or garments, and the joining of hands, while songs, dances, and communal feasting weave the union into the life of the village. When the bride is brought to the groom’s home, household and ancestor spirits are informed and asked to receive her, marking the transfer of her full ritual belonging into the husband’s lineage.

Death is understood as a passage in which the person’s vital principle moves toward the realm of the ancestors, and careful ritual attention is required so that this transition is properly completed. After death, the body is washed, anointed, and clothed, and relatives gather in lamentation while the event is formally acknowledged by elders. Both cremation and burial are known, with offerings of rice, rice beer, and sometimes animals made before the body is consigned to the cremation or burial ground, and the path itself may be ritually marked to guide the spirit. A period of mourning follows, during which close kin observe restrictions on food, adornment, and activities, until purification rites restore ordinary social and ritual life. At a later time, an ancestor feast is held, during which the spirit of the deceased is ritually called and guided to join the community of ancestors, with offerings of food, drink, and sometimes animal sacrifice, and in some regions a memorial stone is raised. Through these rites, the dead are transformed into ancestor-spirits who continue to stand in relationship with the living, capable of both protection and displeasure, depending on how they are remembered and honored.