Need help...

[TheMightyFavog]

I've been asked to oversee a secular naming ceremony. Here's the kick. It needs to look like a christian baptism and involve water.

I'm stumped her help!

[Ptah]

1. baptism or waterboarding?

:shrug:

[Chan790]

2. Okay, that's easy.

Take the traditional ceremony format and instead of talking about God, talk about the bonds of family and the passing down of _________. (No idea...something akin to birthright but not material, genetic or creepy. Try Native American cultures, many have these sorts of ceremonies you can take inspiration from) Consult with the parents about what they want the ceremony's message to be and together choose readings from whatever source they want (Kahlil Gibran and Paulo Coelho are great for this BTW.)

Dunk the kid, hold his drippy arse up, proclaim him whatever name they're giving him. Hand him off to the adoring parents. Hit the reception.

(I know I seem flip...but I kind of am naturally. I wrote my own secular funeral down to songs and readings when I was in college. It says the things I want it to say. Any sort of ceremony rite-of-passage standing in for spirituality should do the same thing. It's about what will be meaningful to the parents and what they want the naming to say; what they'll look back on fondly. It's consultative...they should be doing as much of the planning as you are. You're just laying out the bones, they're putting the flesh on it so to speak...then you orchestrate the whole thing.)

[marzipanni]

3. Are they trying to put one over on a slightly deaf grandma?

I googled secular naming ceremony - it's chock full of info.