Really many, many times over. But as I was writing this I was thinking fondly of the Blessingway for Màiri and I, back when she was still dancing around in my belly.
We have another blessing coming up now. This time it’s a baby blessing ceremony for Galen and Màiri. Which is one of the many things that have been keeping me busy of late. It’s coming up soon. A mere 12 days to be exact. I’m slowly making my way through my to-do list, one item at a time.
This is the special bonnet that I made for Màiri to wear for the ceremony.
It’s made from a lovely, silky, bamboo yarn and tied with a satin ribbon.
The wee girl is pretty content to sleep in her sling for good long stretches of time, so when I’m motivated to, I can get a good bit of work done after everyone goes to bed. That was the plan for tonight. Ah, but this evening brought our first thunderstorm of the year and my middlest boy has not yet made friends with this particular force of nature. And so my night became one of creating distractions; a middle of the night cookie baking and library book reading session lasting until the storm had past. It’s 1:o0 am now. The storm is gone and everyone is back in their beds. And both my mind and body just said “time’s up!”. There will be no sewing tonight. But maybe tomorrow…or the day after that. I can accept that. I’ll get done what I get done. There are lots of things in life that are more important then deadlines and appearances.
Oh, but I am excited about the blessing and I do want it to be a beautiful event for all involved. I do have the basic ceremony planned out, but I would love to hear other people’s experiences! If you have any ideas or stories to share, please leave me a comment! Perhaps you will be the inspiration to make our celebration just a little bit more memorable.
I love the bonnet!
What a great idea – I wish I had oodles of good suggestions for you!
The bonnet is beautiful. I don’t really have advice for the blessing though. We did a naming ceremony on my Melodie’s 1st birthday and my dear friend who performed the ceremony(also performed our marriage) had purchased a dying rosemary plant to make a ‘crown’ for Melodie. It was a warm, wonderful October day spent in the woods for the ceremony and the front yard for the cake and fun. I have no doubt your blessing will be a wonderful one well suited to your family
I had a beautiful blessing ceremony for my twins. My friends created an altar with stuff they picked in nature and everybody brought a little something to add to it. Then, the girls were blessed with some water collected on the same morning from a nearby river. We blessed each of their senses and everybody had a wish to share in relation to each of the senses (for instance, for sight, they wished one of the twins to see the truth, etc.). Then, they weaved two baskets (one for each twins, everybody got to weave part of the baskets, they were already started to make it easier and shorter) in which the wishes for each twin were put on paper (they had prepared the wishes in advance at home). Another friend sewed a beautiful leather pocket/amulet in which a little object was put from everybody to bring luck to the twins. A friend wrote a song for us and sang with her guitar. Another friend prepared a circle dance to close the evening. It was beautiful. Have a wonderful blessing Mairi!
Where did you find this pattern? It is truly beautiful.
******************************
Jenn and Catherine- Thank you for sharing your beautiful ceremonies with me! I’ll be sure to post ours, once we’ve done it, as well.
Sophia- The pattern came from this book: “Knitting for Two: 20 Simple Designs for Expectant and New Mommies and Babies” by Erica Knight
**********************************