alternative to baptism

Hi all,

This may be a weird question and I hope I don't step on anyone's toes with this.

Neither my husband or I are religious -- i.e. we don't partake in any religious activities such as going to church -- but we were both baptised (Christian) when we were little.

A friend of mine who is also not religious held a "ceremony" at her home when her son was very young and asked each person to bring a book/poem/quote/writing that would help guide her son as he lived his life. Each person read out his/her piece and then as a group, we promised to be a supportive community for him as he grew up.

I absolutely love this. I really hesitate to baptise my children as I would feel like a fraud but I really do want the support of my family and close friends. Now, yes, I already have this, but would love to have some kind of solemn occasion to mark this.

I guess my question is, have any of you done something similar to this? If so, what did you do?

Thanks.

 

We did the real Baptism thing, with the church and everything.

Good Luck

 

My boss also did something similar for her son, she had many friends from all religious/spirital backgrounds and wanted them all to be able to participate sharing from their own backgrounds. One of the things that I thought she did that was neat was instead of water being poured over the head like they do at regular baptisms they used fresh rose petals.

Alyson

 

FWIW, we used the Ethical Society (Society for Ethical Culture) here -- they also married us. We're neither very religious and come from differnt backgrounds (Jewish and Catholic) so baptism wasn't our choice. We did a "baby naming" in conjunction with their first birthday. Everyone was asked to bring a wish for each of the girls and could if they wanted read them at the ceremony. It was really nice, and we have the cards and wishes as great keepsakes as well. It was very nice, very un"religious" but thoughtful and "us".

 

As the PP did, we held a baby naming at our home. We are a blended family and blend holidays but, certain Jewish traditions are very important to my husband. Since we could not hold a brit (circumcision ceremony due to Noah being unable to be done at the time) we had the baby naming where family and guests came for a luncheon and the rabbi did the blessing where DH and I read parts, as well as the grandparents. It was basically acknowledging the boys into the Jewish community and they will be loved, protected, etc by the whole family.

 

When dd1 was four months old I used an old celtic ceremony and we "welcomed" her into our family... I don't live near either set of grandparents, so every december we have a dinner with our "chosen family" meaning the friends that we have chosen to be our family here. So that year, during our chosen family dinner, we welcomed braedyn into our family and her "godfather" helped us. We are not religious (due to some issues in our childhoods), but are very spiritual, so this fit. This year on the twins first birthday, we are doing a similar ceremony, but it is going to be just us and the kids.

Do some research and design something that fits your life and family... good luck!

 

I hope it's ok- i just wanted to say how great it is that you are all finding your own ways to introduce your babies to the world and honoring them!
How great to live in a time and place that allows you to create your own customs and rituals.

 

Of course, psychics are not magicians. It's just people who feel and see a little more than everyone else. By the way, if you were ever interested in learning about psychic reading free, then I advise you to follow the link and read more detailed information about it. Maybe it will be more useful to you than to me.

 

My wife and I are just about to do all this. But thanks for so much information, I definitely use something.