Baptism

Ben & Ashley, approx 3 months old each, were baptised on 9/10/2005, Sunday, at the St Gregorious Orthodox Church, Akurdi.
No they arent twins, just that they were born to 2 of my cousins , just 14 days apart.

Baptism is a ritual performed by the christian community. Its first of the seven holy sacraments of the christian faith.

Baptism means

1) Cleansing of the original sin with prayers and holy water
(thatz what Adam and Eve gave the christian community, the first sin, when they had the forbidden fruit.They probably didnt realize the repercursions, Its a 100000's on the ritcher scale, we are still working on the effects)
2) The Actual conversion to christianity.
(Yeah, even if you are born of christian parents you need to be christened as a christian, cant take it for granted. We have had our share of debates about this
when long long ago was a active youth of the church .... but very little change has come around)
3) Appointment of a GodFather or a GodMother
(Its their responsibility to grow them in the christian faith, things like ....they dont listen to me, they are a handful and dear god they freak me out..kinds of justification donot work. Infact people take pride in mentioning their Godson or daughter, IF he/she has some good demonstrable skills like scoring marks or obedience, just in case you donot belong to that cadre then others take pleasure in mentioning "oh he is just like his god father ...very stubborn" )
4) Christened with a Name which is either ur grandfather's or grandmother's
(and that doesnt change even after marriage :) but your family should be kind enough not to name you shoshamma and ponnamma -typical names of granny's in kerala and find you some cuter derivatives else that will be the only time you & ur family will hear that name and it remains closed in the church records unless you want to be looked upon with scorn by the kid for defamation)
5) They are crowned as the children of Christ.
(They actually get a beautiful crown, and the only time when a girl child is taken to the altar. The crown is taken away not so very kindly if you just started playing with it bcoz the colors caught ur fancy.)

And we believe they are blessed.

Both brother & sister were happily napping with occasional checking on their respective mothers while the priest and the whole congregation were saying the prayers aloud admist all the bells and jingles that accompany the prayers. Their GodParents were repeating prayers holding their little tiny hands promising to grow the kids in christian faith.
"Sleeping like a log" runs in the family. so I guess they caught right on and probably thatz the excuse they are gonna be using.... we never heard a thing.

The usually tearsome Ben, to everyone's surprise was pretty cool, infact he also seemed to be smiling admist all the commotion just before the baptism ritual.
Was surprised at the bath the priest was giving him instead of his mom & granny and with so many ppl watching ....would have been thinking ..."dont these ppl have anything better to do than smiling at me when I am taking my bath"

Ashley was sleeping even when she was picked from her mom and placed in the baptism tub. She was looking very cute sitting in the baptism tub with her eyes closed. only when they started pouring the water did little ashley wake up and start crying.

Watching the reactions of the 2 tiny ones was really great. Infact people forgot to click snaps bcoz they were mesmerized by the sight.

After the crowning ceremony, when the priest wanted the crowns back, Ben was a little hesitant to give it back. he kept tossing his head from right to left confusing the priest about which side to remove it from.
Ashley didnt make a fuss and my guess is she was already sleeping and sucking her fingers after the nice warm bath.

Love you both and may you have a blessed life.