Regarding the practice of children prostrating themselves before parents and grandparents during the Chinese New Year, the following has been provided in response to a similar query posed to the House of Justice in the past:
You mention the custom of a son or a daughter-in-law or other relatives, when they meet their elders, bowing before them and sometimes touching their feet with a hand as a mark of respect. As you know, the reference in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh about bowing to and prostrating before others is in the context of His teaching that no person should abase and humiliate himself before another. However, those acts which in some cultures are considered to be merely polite are not prohibited by Bahá’u’lláh and in this context no special directive is to be given to the Indian Bahá’ís.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 1 April 1994 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; included in a letter dated 4 June 2019 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice)
