Naming ceremony

The timing at which a name is assigned can vary from some days after birth to several months or many years.

In Eastern Orthodoxy infants are traditionally named on the eighth day of life in a special service conducted either in the home or in church.

This ceremony is primarily for women and is timed to take place late at night, such as between ten o'clock and midnight.

This lamp along with a red pen and paper are placed on a wooden plank for Vidhata to write the future of the newborn.

These 11 post-natal days are considered as a period during which the child is adjusting to the new environment and thus very vulnerable to infections.

To prevent this, the mother and child are separated from the rest of the family during these 10 days, during which no one except a helper/the maternal grandmother is allowed to touch either of them.

The people involved in the baby naming ceremony are the parents of the newborn, the paternal and maternal grandparents and few close relatives and friends.

In Maharashtra, Bengal, and among the Rajputs of Gujarat the paternal aunt has the honour of naming her brother's child.

In some communities, the baby is then handed over to the paternal grandmother or the father who sits near the priest during the ritual.

In Kerala, a black thread and gold chain called an aranjanam are tied around the baby's waist on the 28th day.

A black spot is placed on one cheek or asymmetrically on the forehead, to ward off the evil eyes.

A mixture of ghee (melted and clarified butter) or honey is given to the infant as a base for its various foods in the future.

The convert chooses a Hindu name to declare his allegiance to Hinduism and his severance from his former religion.

A Vedic fire sacrifice is then performed and the convert writes his new name in a tray of uncooked rice.

Usually the husband writes the new name in a plate filled with dry uncooked rice grains.

Influenced by Owenite thinking, it was conducted by George Jacob Holyoake, a prominent member of the humanist and Co-operative movements in Britain who had coined the term "secularism".

[8][9] In Islam, the baby is named on the seventh day by the mother and father who make a decision together on what the child should be called.

[citation needed] In the Jewish tradition, baby boys are named at a brit milah on the eighth day after their birth.

I declare myself to be Druid, a seeker of the old ways, and one who sees value in and of Tree Dryads, within and around Earth Mother, before and beyond Time Father.