Name giving ceremonies have a history almost as old as mankind itself

From the moment of our birth, our minds and spirits are slowly shaped by a set of values, customs and traditions specific to our own time and place. Nearly every society has a ritual to welcome children into the world and integrate them into the community. In Roman times a son was not a legal member of the family until the father had named him in a ceremony. If you are an Australian aboriginal from the Kimberly region, you have been rocked through the smoke of the Konkerberry fire by your grandmother. Although vastly different, each ceremony conveys essentially the same message: "Welcome, you are one of us, we will do our best to protect and nurture you" With these words, spoken in vast cities and tiny villages, in a thousand different languages, we begin our voyage on the circle of life. By our name we are identified as an individual and as an accepted member of the community. In Christian societies, babies are often named for their parents or grandparents, while groups as diverse as Ashkenazi Jews and the Kung people of Namibia will never give a child the name of a living parent. The Lakota Sioux bestow names that they hope will guide their children's lives, names to be lived up to. (The Circle of Life -Harper Collins) In contemporary New Zealand, as we search our spiritual and cultural traditions for meaningful ways to mark changes and celebrate rites of passage we are beginning to practice the art of self-generated ceremony. With our families and friends, we are creating informal moments, of shared experience and mutual commitment. I welcome the opportunity to work with you to craft a ceremony to mark the naming of a child.