For some reason I've always thought that the word ritual had some kind of sinister connotations but since I have moved into the celebrancy world I realized I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Our lives are full of rituals – some of us have daily rituals – like brushing our teeth after breakfast or weekly ones like always buying the Sunday papers to read leisurely on a Sunday morning. Rituals have been part of people’s lives for thousands of years – they can be routine, exciting or a one off unique experience.
I’ve recently been introduced to one ritual I think is quite beautiful. I’ve nicknamed it the “love hand canvas ritual”! A perfect place to use this ritual is at a naming ceremony where we are welcoming a new person into the family.
To carry out this ritual you will need a canvas (The size of canvas depends on the number of guests at the ceremony) 3 or 4 paint colours poured onto largish plates, a marker and some wipes.
If you can manage it – you put the baby’s hand print in the centre of the canvas, then everyone at the ceremony puts their hand in the paint and adds their own hand print to the canvas and signs it underneath with the marker pen. You can ask the guests to put the handprints in a predefined pattern or let them go crazy. The wipes are there for obvious reasons!
Hang the canvas up in the baby’s room and when they’re old enough to ask what it is – you can tell them that everybody who’s handprint is on that canvas loves them very much and was part of their special day.
