We have decided to give Indigo a naming ceremony on her first birthday. We are not getting her christened as we are non believers and so will leave it up to her when she is older if she wants to go ahead and do that :)

Has anybody had one for their children or has anybody been to one as would be interested to know your thoughts on them :)

Thanks

Lucy

I'm one of 4 girls, the first 3 of us were christened even though not church goers.......my youngest, mum and dad decided to leave it, to let her choose for herself...........trouble was she forgot all about it until she went to book the church for her wedding and was told she couldn't get married in church as she hadn't been christened...........so we had to have her 'christened' a couple of weeks before she got married...........lol.

Not wishing to be morbid, but the vicar also told them if they hadn't been christened, he also wouldn't have been able to do a funeral service...........not sure if he was just being a bit funny or if it's right???   Any body know???

I havent been christened, although I went to a CoE school and therefore went to church regular up to the age of about 12.  I decided for myself that I dont believe therefore I wouldnt want to get married in a church (or married at all :D :D ) or buried in a church yard therefore not being christened will not affect me.

A naming ceremony sounds nice though, I think I would get that done for my children as a celebration of their birth.

Claire :)

I think the vicars can pretty much please themselves what they want to do.  I have always been religious even though I haven't been a church goer for years for whatever reason, shift working included but I've had a real problem trying to get married in church because my other half has been divorced.
The attitude of vicars is certainly changing my outlook on religion for the worse :(
Lara x

A very nice vicar once described the Church as being like a club. Membership is open to anyone who wants to join, but only members can use the facilities! So unless a person has been baptised the vicar cannot perform any ceremony for them including marriage or funeral.

I was unsure about having my children christened...I waited until Mollie was 2 (temper tantrum at the altar - the lot :rolleyes: ). I got Zack christened at 5 months and it was one of the happiest days of my life - it was lovely and the Army Padre was just brilliant. I am glad I had them christened because if (god forbid) anything happened, I would need the comfort of a proper funeral for them I feel. I also feel they still have the option on whether to follow the church or not - but they have had a head start so to speak if they do :)

Hmmmmm, I'm not christened but I was married in a church.

Only one of you has to have been christened for it to be allowed.

In answer to Lucy, I haven't had Christopher named or christened yet, cause we said that when Simon shot a wild boar we would have a massive hog roast as the party, however he has yet to shoot the boar!!!!

<<the vicar also told them if they hadn't been christened, he also wouldn't have been able to do a funeral service>>

Interesting point, but how would they know?  The relatives would only have the death certificate, although I have been involved in arranging a funeral, I can't ever remember the question coming up.

Sandra

I went to a friends babies naming ceremony and it was a beautiful day.
It was last September - and they had it in their garden as it was so nice.  The parents write it all, and their little girl had written a poem about her new baby brother too.  They had a book, which everyone wrote something in as a reminder of the day.  Much more fun than a christening! and the sentiments much more genuine too.

Hi,

I had my 4 children christened at 12 months,15 months,4months and 2 1/2 months.
Its such alovely special time for each child and family.
However the naming cereomony sounds a nice idea if you are not religeous in any way.
Briony :-)

I think the idea of a naming ceremony is wonderful. Too many people have their babies christened because they think it's the 'thing to do'. One of my friends from a different town asked me the name of our local vicar because hers wanted to meet her and her husband to talk about her daughters christening and what it meant. She wanted to know if our vicar would just do the ceremony without all the 'religious stuff ' !!!.

Val

ps. piece of 'naming' cake greatfully received !

Hello Lucy

I haven't actually been to a naming ceremony but we looked into these when we were still hoping to have children.  I think they are a wonderful idea for those of us who are non-believers and can mean far more to everyone involved than the standard christening service. 

If you haven't already done so it might be worth having a quick look at www.humanism.org.uk (sorry, haven't worked out links) which gives some initial ideas for the ceremony.  There is also a book you can buy from that site which I believe includes suggestions for poems and prose other people have used.  I think what is really nice is that you can structure the day exactly how you want and say what is important to you as a family and what you specifically want for your own child rather than follow a rigid ceremony which may not mean much to you at all.

Best wishes

Alex

Alex just what I needed ! :D Thank you !

I have ordered the book and have mailed a woman who is a Celebrant in our area. I recognised her name and e-mail address as she worked for the same company as me ! :)

We have just got to get the venue sorted and I can get the invites out!  I want to do it asap as we are planning for the end of july so want to let peopel know in advance so hopefully they won't have booked their holidays ! :)

What will be so cool, the chocolate girls can come as well :D They are part of the family and so should be there as they were at our wedding :D

Good to see they deal with funerals as well as we have decided as well we don't want a religious funeral  ! :) The trouble is you can't really book them in advance :)

Lucy, I'm really glad that was helpful and I'm sure you'll have a wonderful wonderful day.  Quite right the chocolate girls can be there - my brother had several dogs and a donkey at his wedding!! :) - no way they should be excluded, they're part of Indigo's life!!

Do let us know how it goes :)

Best wishes

Alex

The trouble is you can't really book them in advance  ..........................

You could, or someone could do it for you.................................................

My friend got a cancellation for her grandfather's funeral!

the two girls that my mum adopted last year were never christened and the eldest was always asking mum if she could have a christening, but as we dont go to church it wasnt possible, however my mum does attend a spiritilist church and asked at the church if the children could have a naming ceremony. The ceremony took place last weekend (on the last day of crufts) and the girls and guests all had a lovely time, the ceremony itself was performed by the 'vicar' and there were prayers and hymms (as with a normal christening) the 'vicar' spkoe to the girls before hand as they were excited and a little bit frightened about what was going to happen and afterwards the 'vicar' gave the girls a certificate to say that they had been named at the church and what they had been called.
afterwards we went back to ours for a party,
everybody had a great time.
On the christening note, my nephew is going to be christened and i am to be god mum, as my SIL is catholic and we are CofE and neither of any parties actually attend church we need to got to classes, but aint i the lucky one i dont need to attend they need to send all the lessons to me as they are in manchester and we are in essex.
HTH
tanya

if your not christened then you cannot be married or buried by the church neither can you have your children christened if you arnt