Rites of Passage - Birth

Christian Birth Rites

Infant Baptism is practised in the majority of churches - The Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and so on. A popular name by which baptism are known is 'christenings'. This is derived from 'Christ-naming', since it would be when the child would be given his/her Christian name publicly.

Present at the ceremony will be the parents, godparents, relatives and friends. The parents and godparents make a promise to bring the child up in the Christian faith and the godparents repeat vows on behalf of the baby. When the parents have named the child, the priest takes water from the font and pours it over the baby's head three times, baptising the baby in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He sometimes uses a scallop shell to do this or he might just use his hand to scoop the water up. In this type of ceremony, water is used to symbolise washing away sin. Often a lighted candle is given to the godparents, standing for the idea that becoming a Christian is to leave the darkness of evil and to come into the light of God. Jesus said that He is the Light of the world. The sign of the cross is made on the baby's forehead. In Roman Catholic baptisms the baby/child is anointed on the chest and on the head.

In Orthodox churches babies are baptised by being immersed in the font water three times. Baptism is followed on the same occasion by Chrismation where oil is used to anoint the forehead, eyelids, nose, mouth, ears, chest, hands and feet of the child. The oil has been blessed by a bishop.

However, not all churches agree with the baptism of infants. The Baptist church, Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches are emphatic that baptism is for true believers. Since babies and small children are too young to have a personal belief, it would be wrong to baptise them. They point to the New Testament where the main practice seems to be the baptism of those who have already come to belief, as a public testimony of the spiritual experience they had already received. Further, these churches and others like them, insist that baptism should be by immersion in water, not by sprinkling.

Such churches usually have services of Infant Dedication to welcome new-born children into the church and to encourage parents to bring their children up with sound Christian teaching. Although the Salvation Army does not practise any form of baptism, it does have a ceremony of Dedication.

Jewish Birth Rites

Jewish baby boys are circumcised when they are eight days old. The foreskin is removed by a trained rabbi known as a mohel in a ceremony called B'rit Milah (=the covenant of circumcision). Only men are allowed in the room while the circumcision takes place. It is a time of great rejoicing and celebration. A male relative has the honour of performing the role of sandek - seated, he holds the baby firmly on his lap, on a cushion, while the circumcision is carried out. During the ceremony, the child's name will be announced.

Abraham, the great ancestral father of the Jews, who lived some 4000 years ago, was the first to accept the sign or covenant of circumcision as a mark of his covenant with God.

There is no ceremony for a girl, but her name will be announced in the synagogue a week after her birth.

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G. Jones:
The FitzWimarc School, Rayleigh, Essex