M and I were both raised in the church, his family is Catholic, mine is Methodist- but few people in our families actively attend church. We are non practicing and probably identify as agnostic more than anything. My Mom surprised me this weekend by asking if we were going to baptize our daughter. We are not. But it got me thinking, do non religious people do anything to bless a new child? Or is there some sort of celebration or ceremony that we could do to honor our beliefs. I believe in spending time in nature, appreciating the world and seeing as much of it as I can, being kind and empathetic, having confidence in myself and my abilities and loving my family and friends. I mean I think we could write our hopes for her and read them at the beach just the 3 of us and put the letters in her baby box and I would be happy with that. Thoughts? Have you or anyone you know done an alternative celebration for the birth of a child?
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When I was born my parents held a naming dedication for me. I will PM you more info.
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@Anya: thank you!!
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I hadn't ever thought about this, but it's kind of a cool idea. I'm former Southern Baptist, so no infant baptism anyway, but they do baby dedications, which are fairly similar. It might be nice to do something secular like that.
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@Anya: Do you mind sharing with me as well?
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I was also going to suggest dedication. Good luck
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@Torchwood: sure
walled you.
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@Anya: Thank you! That's really interesting!
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My brother in law and his wife did an alternative to a baptism and my husband and I thought it was really weird. . . That's not to say yours would be but how they went about it was so strange ---in my opinion! First off, they are white Americans raised Catholic but want to raise their children in a more "worldly" sense and so talk about God as nature and as a female. That's fine. But then they talk about Jesus as God, so that's where it gets confusing (in my opinion, again).
Anyway, the blessing consisted of borrowing from a bunch of traditions. The two that stood out the most for me were the African drum circle where all the guests were instructed to get in a circle and were taught and then had to perform an African dance and then all the males in the family had to give speeches about their wishes for the baby. We closed it with a Jewish wish tree. To be honest, it felt odd to borrow from cultures to which you do not belong and to blatantly ignore the roots they do share (Catholicism). I would respect not wanting to do anything Catholic but then why bring in other religions? I'm all for learning about other cultures but to borrow their practices without really knowing much about them to me seems disrespectful
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Sorry for my rant, it just still gets me! The rest of my in laws were sooo uncomfortable!
I think your idea of the beach sounds lovely! And I totally support doing something special for the baby whether it's a baptism or naming ceremony or any celebration that says "yes, you exist and you are special to us!'"
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We had a dedication performed by our reverend for our Unitarian Universalist congregation. As former Catholics, it was nice to have a service that was solely about asking those we love to help us guide our daughter in life without tying it to a specific belief system.
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@WinterBee: thank you!! @HourThyme: I agree, I would not do anything elaborate, that sounds a bit out there- at least they were enthusiastic.@Chaosmaven: that sounds lovely.
I asked my sister about it and they had the dean of religious studies of a local college do a blessing for my nephew.
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@Anya: can you wall me that info too?
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