Christening Kijara

A week ago, I returned to my training town of Sveti Nikole for the baptism of my new host-niece, Kijara. Familiar only with Catholic baptism traditions, it was interesting to me that in a Macedonian Orthodox church they baptised 3 babies (all girls) simultaneously. The ceremony took place in a room on the church grounds but outside the church itself. Only one godparent takes part in the ceremony itself, first holding the baby and lit candles. The day of the baptism was, as can be expected in early August, toasty and baby Kijara did not appreciate the lit candles so near her person. Her godmother kept blowing on her to try to keep her cool and Kijara's mom, my host sister Kate, blotted the godmother with tissues to keep her sweat at bay.

Next the babies were carried over to changing tables that line the wall and they were undressed. One by one, the priest anoints them with oil and then carries them for a dunking in the baptismal font. Then, the babies are dressed in new, straight-out-of-the-box outfits and the godparents carry them in a circle around the baptismal font, bowing to the four corners. One of the last components of the ceremony involves the priest cutting a lock of hair from each baby's head, which you can see from the photos on Picasa got a rise out of Kijara despite her respectable head of hair. After the ceremony, we took more pictures and the baby was carried into the church by the priest, followed by lighting some candles.

Everything complete at the church, we went to Kate and Pance's house for lunch. As is traditional here, they live with his parents. My host nephew, 4 year old Mario, amused himself with the toy car that my parents sent from America and the rest of us ate and ate and ate. Of course they gave me a piece from all 3 types of cake (and I wonder why I can't get back to my pre-Macedonia weight). One other new tradition to me was that before the main meal, the godfather gave a small bit of each dish to Kijara which is meant to symbolize that she will always have enough to eat. Okay, it was more like he ate and she maybe licked mayo off his finger but it is a nice sentiment.

I enjoyed meeting more of Pance's side of the family and my host mother said my Macedonian is getting better which is a nice to hear. Considering it was only family and close friends at the ceremony, I was glad that Kate invited me to take part and in return I am happy, as requested, to give her the recipe for the cookies I brought--after converting everything into metric measures and Macedonian, that is.