How naming ceremony is performed in my locality
Good day steemians. I want to share with you how we perform naming ceremony in my locality. A Naming ceremony refers to a situation where a new baby is being given a name. When a woman is put to bed, the usually term for the newly born baby is "stranger", until a permanent name is given to him/her. The naming ceremony takes place on the 8th day - that is the same day on the following week. The name of the child is usually chosen by the father and the mother, but others allow the religious leaders to choose for them. Mostly, the child is circumcised if he is male before the naming ceremony. This prevents him from excessive pain on the day of the ceremony as the circumcision causes bleeding.
![newborn-circumcision.webp](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSDyp1J98Y8rohKacPiaiNTngSBroM9TKkZAZxPHqwygG/newborn-circumcision.webp)
circumcising a baby
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For females, there is no circumference. We regarded it as abusing children's rights and hence outmoded in my locality. Initially, there was no party before the day of the ceremony, and though some still stick to that. But unlike young people nowadays, on the last night of the naming ceremony, they will slaughter a goat and prepare "Ataaya" and everybody will enjoy that night. We call it "biehu piling", which means "till day break" in English. On the very day of the naming ceremony, sheep will be slaughter again for dinner.
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Banku is mostly constant, which they normally prepare at dawn. Rice will also be cooked after preparing the banku. They will ensure that the food is ready before the name is given to the child. Usually, the aunty of the baby voices out the name of the baby loudly to the public by making an echo "ayyooi", followed by the name three times if male, and four times if female. Prayers are made by religious leaders after the name is announced. After that, the women bring out the food and share it with the crowd and they eat together. About an hour later, they will again prepare T.z in bulk, where neighbors come with bowls from their homes, serve the food, and send them to their homes for lunch. Friends and loved ones on this special day offered gifts to the parents of the child. Usually, men give in the form of money to the father, whilst women mostly offer soap and baby dresses as a gift to the mother. People can disperse after naming the child.
Naming ceremony is an important practice in African societies and most religion because it distinguishes one person from the other and also welcomes the newborn baby to this world. Thanks for sharing with us bro!!!
You are very welcomed @ghanaba
Hi buddy, nice post. This is one of my favorite festivities in Ghana as we get to welcome the newborn as part of the family.
Please be sure to use only copyright-free images from sites like pixabay.com and pexels.com.
Alright, thank you for enlightening me @njaywan