ISSA'S NAMING CEREMONY

Hey Lovelies

Last weekend we celebrated a very special occasion for our family. We had a Naming Ceremony for our little princess.

Children are considered to be a gift from God in Ghana. The birth of a child is, therefore, a very joyous and important occasion in the life of the parents and family. As times have changed and culture has developed, I think things have been scaled down somewhat and I have seen that many families turn this into a religious ceremony before their child’s official christening or dedication.

A bit of history for you, well this is what my Uncle Asokwahene told me (not sure how much truth there is to it. In the olden days, due to lack of development and technology, mothers would go through the whole of their pregnancy without scans and check-ups. So if there were any problems with their pregnancy they were not to know until the baby was born. As a result, there were high rates of babies not surviving after seven days old. For this reason, parents would not give their babies names and the mother and child would be required to stay indoors. If however, their babies lived until the eighth day, there would be a big celebration in the community. The eighth day would be the day that the father of the child would take the mother and the baby out of the house and also give the baby a name. This would be celebrated with a ceremony commonly known as an Outdooring and Naming ceremony.

Culturally it is the father that names the baby, usually after someone who he wants to honour or considers in high regard (e.g. parents or family members). In addition, the baby is given a name based on their sex and the day of the week they are born on. Our daughter was named Maame Yaa meaning a girl born on Thursday and my husband named our princess after his Auntie who has been instrumental in his life. Her Christian names are Issaiah Grace (pronounced Ee-sai-yah). This is the female version of the name Isaiah meaning the Lord is my salvation.