Naming ceremonies or welcome to the world events are a wonderful way to get family and friends together and celebrate a new arrival. If you are multi-faith, more spiritual than religious, or pagan in principle having an independent celebrant leading a ceremony can help you include those elements you want to, whilst doing away with the pieces that no longer serve your family. Having a ceremony is an important ritual in our lives, marking a milestone of a new family member – and this isn’t just for new babies, but also for other additions to the family. Maybe you’re adopting and this is a beautiful way to introduce your new addition to everyone around you.
A welcome to the world party can get everyone together, to celebrate and look to the future and guests can bring promises, blessings or wishes for your little one. In the absence of godparents, which are a wonderful resource for children, you may consider thinking about guide parents, mentors or whatever you want to call them!
Ceremony structure
Having a ceremony, which doesn’t have to be long or overbearing, can give a lovely focal point to your day of celebration. You can have it at the beginning, as a way to focus everyone’s attention on why you’ve joined together, or let everybody catch up and relax and then make a speech. There is no right or wrong way. One of the most beautiful naming ceremonies I did was in a back garden, very relaxed and informal – it’s whatever works for you.
The structure of the ceremony is much like any other, that is, a welcome and introduction (why we’re here), a focus on the individual and/or family, possibly a reading or poem by a family member or guide parent, possibly some music to end with – the choices are endless! You can also include mini-ceremonies such as a sand ceremony, which would get other children in the family involved.
Names are such as strong part of our identity, and this can also apply to adults who are transitioning, maybe from a marriage back into an independent life, transitioning gender, or moving from one chapter of our lives to another. If you’d like to discuss a naming ceremony, drop me a line via the contact form.
With warm wishes,