Has anyone ever had a naming or other welcoming ceremony for you baby? After some familial pressure over the "Pagan equivalent of a baptism," we've decided to do a welcoming/naming ceremony for my daughter. I just got the book Welcoming Ways which is AWESOME and I think we have a rough draft of a ceremony coming together but I did want to ask if anyone has ever done one and how you did it - what worked, what didn't, what was special to you.

The way it looks right now I think we will have a small intro, a blessing, a mentor assignment :> (ie godparent) then do a bead necklace where each family/guest brings a bead and we introduce them to my daughter then they put the bead on a string and give her words of wisdom (i.e., "I hope you grow in strength and peace.") and we will keep the necklace for her as she grows. I was going to do a tree planting ceremony with the placenta where each guest helps to dig the hole but DH felt that the placenta deal might freak most of his family and mine out and he's probably right - we'll save that for a special family ceremony.

THE RESPONSES:

• I so want to do this with others! I'm really into doing Blessingways for pregnant mamas - and would love to continue the celebration with Welcoming Ceremonies!

  I just read Welcoming Ways a while ago - it's all about different traditions and rituals..one that really stands out is where children from other families, children relatives, etc., circle the baby and they all say something like, "Hi, my name is _____ - Welcome to the world, _____! I'm one of your first friends!"

• We did a blessing for my daughter and invited our closest family/friends. We introduced her godparents, and each of us (me, DH, and her godparents) read a poem to her about our wishes and hopes for her. We had candles at each place setting, and we asked each person to light a candle and say a silent prayer/blessing/etc. for her. Overall, it was a very moving and touching ceremony, and I felt a real sense of warmth and love.

  I really like your idea of the necklace and might use it myself next time around -- I really like the idea of having a momento that you can pass on to her. Maybe you also could find a way to invoke the four elements in a symbolic way for her? For example, next time, I'm thinking of asking faraway friends to send little samples of water that we could use to bless her with.

• We did a modified version of the naming/welcoming/paganing ceremony from Ed Fitch's Crystal Well. It was lovely. I have an extra copy of that book I could send you. It has wonderful rituals that are pretty easily adapted to a more eclectic paganism rather than alot of books that have adhere to one tradition or another.

• All three of our children have had traditional Jewish brit/bris ceremonies.

• Since we don't have family nearby we did a very small ceremony. DH and DD and I went to a local arboretum on her 6 month birthday, at about the time she was born (this was near spring solstice) and sat down on the ground and read messages written by us and by her grandparents, aunt and uncle, and a few friends. The great thing about this was that we were able to incorporate all the important people in her life via writing, and now she'll have all these messages for later.

  I would have liked to do something with more people and a bit more spiritual in nature, but DH wasn't comfortable with that. But if you have important people in your daughter's life who can't be there, this is a good way to get them involved.