28 Days
The naming ceremony is the first major celebration in a child's life. 
In our community, traditionally this ceremony is performed at six months along with the Choroonu ceremony, but somewhere along the way 28th day or the one month mark caught fancy. Often until this day the baby is kept inside the house. I have heard that some other days like the 6th day, 10th day are also used by other communities to perform the naming ceremony. Last time with Kochunni, when we had asked around, we found out there were priests at the local Hindu temple who were ready to perform the ceremony at the temple or at our house for a fee. But even then we opted for the small simple affair at home.
Of course being in US means that one has to decide the name and provide the details by the 3rd day of the newborn's life to ensure birth certificates and other paperwork are completed in a timely manner. But still the "naam-karan" ceremony marks an important aspect of a child's life. Just like with Kochunni to maintain some semblance of an old, forgotten way of life we tried our best to not use the chosen name until the auspicious day. This time around though it was slightly more difficult with a 3 year old around. We had to ensure that Kochunni used the pet name or referred to his sibling as the 'baby' until this day.
Now the ceremony itself is a simple affair.
We bathed and dressed the baby in traditional mundu (yellowish white cloth tied around the waist). Traditional lamps were lit in front of the alter and flowers were placed. The baby sat on his father's lap and after a little prayer he whispered his name into the baby's right ear three times for the very first time. Next, the rest of the family did the same. My mom tied a black chord around his waist along with some kajal to his eyes and cheek to ward of the evil eye. We prepared a small sadya in honor of the event and of course had a grand photo session during and after the small affair to commemorate the event.
And thus K-baby had received his name, Kunju.
The first picture is of Kochunni, while the second is Kunju. Yes, it seems baldness runs in the husband's family! :)
In our community, traditionally this ceremony is performed at six months along with the Choroonu ceremony, but somewhere along the way 28th day or the one month mark caught fancy. Often until this day the baby is kept inside the house. I have heard that some other days like the 6th day, 10th day are also used by other communities to perform the naming ceremony. Last time with Kochunni, when we had asked around, we found out there were priests at the local Hindu temple who were ready to perform the ceremony at the temple or at our house for a fee. But even then we opted for the small simple affair at home.Of course being in US means that one has to decide the name and provide the details by the 3rd day of the newborn's life to ensure birth certificates and other paperwork are completed in a timely manner. But still the "naam-karan" ceremony marks an important aspect of a child's life. Just like with Kochunni to maintain some semblance of an old, forgotten way of life we tried our best to not use the chosen name until the auspicious day. This time around though it was slightly more difficult with a 3 year old around. We had to ensure that Kochunni used the pet name or referred to his sibling as the 'baby' until this day.
Now the ceremony itself is a simple affair.
We bathed and dressed the baby in traditional mundu (yellowish white cloth tied around the waist). Traditional lamps were lit in front of the alter and flowers were placed. The baby sat on his father's lap and after a little prayer he whispered his name into the baby's right ear three times for the very first time. Next, the rest of the family did the same. My mom tied a black chord around his waist along with some kajal to his eyes and cheek to ward of the evil eye. We prepared a small sadya in honor of the event and of course had a grand photo session during and after the small affair to commemorate the event.And thus K-baby had received his name, Kunju.
The first picture is of Kochunni, while the second is Kunju. Yes, it seems baldness runs in the husband's family! :)
Posts
4 comments:
Simple ways of celebrating life ... how are your K boys doing?
~ CA - True. They are doing well.
I am a new reader & writer round d block. Congrats on the ceremony for little kunju.
~ LR - Thanks for stopping by.
Post a Comment