Celebration

Baptism is an important religious event which takes place on Sunday in church. Based on Eritrean tradition, a baby boy is baptised after 40 days of birth, and a girl is baptised after 80 days. The number of people that are invited can vary, but this year we didn't invite many people because of COVID-19. Our guests were my son's godfather, neighbours, a few close friends and my family.

The preparation, which started on Saturday, was mainly done by my neighbours and a friend of mine who came from Toronto. They helped me to prepare a large traditional Eritrean meal and it consisted of zigin, alicha, rice. I just needed to add fresh salads on Sunday.

In the church on Sunday, the baptism started with a prayer, and after a while, the priest told me to undress my son. Then, he baptised my son in the water by the name of the father the son and the Holy sprit. The priest used Holy oil and put a cross around my son’s neck. After that, his godfather held him and prayed some prayers. Then, he gave him to me and I dressed him.

After the baptism, we came home. First, we ate the food and after that there was a coffee ceremony. Then, the cameraman took some photos and we had a lot of fun. Baptism is very important in our religion because through baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and become Christians.