Denaboo!

So I went this morning to a baby naming ceremony, which is called a denaboo.  It is held on the eighth day.  In the morning, the child's head is shaved and officially named and prayed over.  Then depending on how elaborate, the family will serve a sort of oatmeal with sweet yogurt on top for breakfast, a lunch of rice and meat from a sheep that has been sacrificed, and then a snack or something in the afternoon. 

The one I went to today was different from any I had ever attended before.  I took a gift just like I would to any other denaboo, as you would take to visit after the birth of a child.  But then several men, including the husband and possibly their religious teacher, came in the room where I was visiting my friend and her baby and prayed over the gift I gave and for me.  It really was not that much of a gift yet appropriate to this culture.  Typically, I have just gotten a, "Thank you," and that been the end of it.  So I was quite taken a back to have such a big deal made over this small gift.  The family was doing what seemed a rather simple celebration, and while it is not their first child, it is their first boy.

On a more humorous note, my friend had given birth last Tuesday evening.  Apparently right after I left from my weekly visit, she went inside and gave birth at her house.  I had no idea that she was laboring while I was there.  It was just occurring to me that she was pregnant!  She said she would have named the baby after me had it been a girl.  I guess I missed out this time!

Many around us are already planning on us having a baby naming ceremony and talk about it.  I don't think they realize how long I have left!  We are trying to plan how we will do it differently, so that there will be no confusion over why or how we are doing it.  Pray for wisdom as we prepare for this event.