Baby blessing ceremony
A mother, held by her people
This is the ceremony that began everything. A friend asked me to lead a baby blessing, and I watched a mother realize how held she was. Nothing has been the same since.
What it is
A gathering of the mother's community, women, family, chosen family, brought into a circle around her. Not a shower. No games, no gifts to unwrap. Only blessing, attention, and promise.
What happens
Each person speaks something to her. Hands are laid. A simple ritual marks the crossing into motherhood, or into motherhood again. She hears, out loud, who will show up in the hard weeks after.
Who it is for
First babies and fourth babies. Adoption. Long roads to arrival. Any mother who needs to feel the weight of her community before she carries something new.
She should know, before the birth, that she is not doing this alone.