Christening/Naming Ceremony

Maya has been baptised 3 times (!!!) - at birth (my Dad insisted, he is very old school Catholic), in Australia for my family there and then a big christening here in NZ.

She was formally baptised in the hospital one (I sat up in bed eating toast while she had water poured on her lol), so the other 2 were just ceremonies, but very nice.

With the whole Catholic thing, we had two meetings with the priest beforehand, one to talk about what baptism means in the church and what is expected of us as parents of a baptised child, and the second meeting was to talk about what readings, music etc. we wanted for the service.

They usually do 3 or 4 babes at the same time in a Catholic ceremony, but you can request a private service which we did. We just picked 2 readings from a selection they gave us, had no singing but I did play a CD of a song I chose called "I hope you dance" by Leeann Womack at the end.

The ceremony was about 30 mins, afterwards we had a 'picnic' in the park across the road - I put on cold meat, salad, bread etc. and my Dad supplied champagne and everyone just mingled. It was really lovely, and I would definitely do a similar thing next time round.

Hope this helps. Good luck being married to a Catholic lol - we're a difficult bunch

We didn't have get Xanda christened but we had a little naming ceremony of our own, where we also returned his placenta to the earth. It was just a small gathering of family on the farm and then we returned the placenta to the earth and planted a tree,said a karakia and sung a waiata.

We had a separate little thing to bury Maya's placenta as my family are very 'Pakeha' in their ways and that would have freaked them out. It was just Willie and I and Maya. We are going to bury the baby we m/c next to her placenta too, but that will be a very private thing too.

I think Maria (AngelNZ) had a really nice naming ceremony for Alyssa. I'm sure she can give you some ideas.

Ok, thanks for the start, lol, I would love that article Kat as I seem to have started gettig my treasures mags the issue AfTER that one (of course )

We bought a christening gown today, IT IS GORGEOUS!!! We are having a private service with really just close family and then coming home for cake and coffee. We have a couple from the parish coming over next week to chat for an hour or so about the meaning etc. and also the music etc. I suppose. I found a reading I like but I don't think it is very catholic, hmmmm, we'll see.... I have been getting some booklets from the catholic enquiry centre to read up as I would like to know what I am letting Joey in for and it is interesting to broaden my horizons too. We married in a catholic church ceremony which was lovely and I am sure the christening will be lovely too...
Man that was a long one, hehehehe

I went to reply to this post last night and then half way through I got distracted and went to do something else, so of course when I got back, it logged me out !!

I was raised Catholic, as per my dad's side of the family. Mum was raised Anglican but has Catholic "inclinations". Forgive my bluntness, but I gave up on Christianity in 6th form, but am a very spiritual person. Like Nikki said, the idea of a non-denominational ceremony of sorts appeals to me, but I have no idea where to start. Roland isn't fussed either way, he wasn't raised to be religious at all.

So... I'd be interested to see if anyone can put up any ideas or outlines ! It will be a while before any decisions would be made on this kind of thing though (for us).

We had a naming ceremony for Gabrielle's first birthday - totally non-religious and just had close friends and family at home.  We wrote our own speech and read it ourselves, got the G-Grandparents, grandparents and "god mothers" to write some words of wisdom for us to put in her memory box (which we will give her when she is 21) - because in reality her great grandparents are 80-something now and not likely to be here for her 21st, but I wanted to give them the opportunity to share some of their knowledge or special thoughts with her. 

I made up some fancy note paper on the computer for them to write their messages on and also made a certificate for my partner and I to sign as her parents and the god mothers to sign as her godmothers - kind of like a wedding certificate.   We chose to have god mothers (mentors really) and one is my best friend and the other is my sister in law.  We chose people that make a real special effort to come and spend time with Gabrielle and to give her someone she would feel comfortable talking to if she couldn't talk to us.

Oh - I also circulated a 'book of wishes' for everyone that was there to put a message in.  I just got a pretty autograph book from Whitcoulls and people wrote special things in that, including who was who in Hollywood on her first birthday in 2005 etc.  Really cool to look back on.  Shame about the skanky sister-in-law-to-be ruining everying and using Gabrielle's birthday to announce her engagement to my partners brother and asking my MIL to "step outside", causing a massive scene and me kicking her out - whole other story.  It was pretty special apart from that - their first birthdays always are.  Also need to give ourselves a pat on the back for breaking through the first year barrier!

Edited by Popsicle

We had the god-parents, tho they are more like guardians or people to be there for xanda, we had them put something that meant something to them in with his placenta, just to tie it all together, so they look after him and grow with him.Coz that is why we plant a tree, it symbolises growth and as it grows stronger and bigger so will xanda.

bump for Roxy

we didnt do a naming ceremony for Kobe but always planned to so what I thought I would do is get a really nice picture of Kobe and Addison done and have a frame made to match our wedding picture and get everyone to sign the frame with thier words of wisdom or whatever they want to write. We did that at our wedding instead of having a book or the traditional teddy bear that goes round and the we put our favourite wedding picture in it and it sits on a huge stand in our lounge, I love it. Also another idea I have heard is to give everyone a colour glass stone thing at the start of the ceremony and ask them to make a wish for the child/children then put it in a nice vase or container of some sort that can be sealed, kind of like wishing stones.