We invite you to the christening (traditions of Bobruisk)
A son or daughter is about to be born in the family. The expectant mother needs urgent help. She accompanied her husband to one of the oldest women in the village for help. The husband rolled a loaf of bread in a towel and went to this woman. He came into the house, unwrapped the bread, greeted, put the bread on the table, and only then invited the woman "baby". The bread he brought stays with baba, but takes the towel and hurries to the house. If a woman agreed to go to these people as a child, she would take a piece of self-woven cloth, a bowl of cereal, or flour, or put eggs on it (which was because she hadn't prepared for the invitation in advance) and hurry home to naradikha. In the event that the woman did not agree with the invitation, she took the bread she brought and took it herself to naradiha's house with a refusal. Such cases were rare.
Here a woman appears in naradiha's house, helps the child to be born, cuts off the navel, ties it with silk thread. This very moment was called "babitsa's child". Naradikha and the child are resting, and the woman is seated at the table and treated. On the second day, the woman comes by herself, uninvited, to bathe the baby. He brings some treats for naradikha. They heated the water, put a trough (a wooden makeshift bathtub, which was used for bathing children and washing clothes). The water was poured with such warmth that it was not hot for an adult's body, it was soaked three times, and three small pieces of bread were necessarily placed. A cloth platform was placed under the child's head or the head was supported on the left arm, and the child was watered with warm water with the right hand. In the first month of life, the baby was bathed wrapped in a thin cloth (diaper) so that it would not be scared when it was watered, as the water could mistakenly be warmer than the required norm.
After bathing the child, the mother gave the woman a towel to wipe her hands. The woman took this towel with her. According to the popular afterword, it was believed that a woman would have to be wiped with this towel if she was washed after death (The child was bathed for the first time in this world, and she was already born in the next world). Then they put the child to bed, and the water in which they bathed him was carried into the yard and poured onto a young, healthy tree so that the child would grow like that tree - strong and beautiful. They treated a woman. Before the day of the child's christening, the woman had to come to bathe him three times. After each arrival, the woman brought treats. Empty-handed, in that case, it was a sin to go. During this time of visits, the woman had to, in addition to treats, carry gifts to the child and be born.
On the day of the child's christening, the woman escorted the child to the church for the baptism ceremony. She took the child in her arms, stood in front of the icons, picked up the child three times, and handed him over to her godfather. A godfather and a godfather were driving to the church and carrying a child. The child was taken to church naked, wrapped in cloth. The clothes for the child were carried separately, and his mother-in-law was already dressing him in the church, when the child and the clothes were crossed.
Having arrived from Christ, all the invited guests, baba, godfather, godfather, sat down at the table to eat and "beat" porridge. Porridge for the christening was prepared by a woman. It was cooked in a clay pot, made from buckwheat groats, with milk and sugar. The pot of porridge was decorated with a new embroidered handkerchief or lace napkin, wrapped with a colored ribbon, and artificial flowers were attached. Baba constantly carefully guarded him while everyone was helping themselves. Her friend helped her, because that's how they put her at the table.: A woman was put on the corner, with a godfather on Boba's left hand, and a godfather behind him. One of the joking guests tried to "decorate" the porridge from the woman in order to demand a ransom from the woman and the godfather (magarych).
The guests had a snack, joked and started demanding porridge from the woman. Baba takes out her decorated porridge, holding it in her hands, shows it to everyone and says: "Whoever pays the most for it will beat my porridge."". The guests began to jokingly bathe the porridge. But the woman stubbornly refuses to give up her porridge for a small fee. Then a friend gets the money and pays a significant amount for porridge. At first, he doesn't hit the bottom of the pot very hard on the table: once, twice, and then hits the side of the pot on the table, and the porridge is "broken". Put the porridge in a bowl and serve it on the tables. The guests sort out the porridge, stand it, put money or gifts on a separately served plate, which is covered with a handkerchief or napkin.
After the porridge, the child's mother gives gifts to baba, godfather and godfather. Godmother gives the child his gifts before leaving for church. The guests sort out the pieces of a pot that was broken by a friend and put them on each other's heads, as if wishing for the birth of their child. If the joker put such a piece on the woman's head, then all the guests laughed merrily, saying: "Our woman will give birth."&"Babich". (Babich is a child who was born to a woman, having her own grandchildren)
The guests leave the tables, jump, sing. And a few of them are somewhere in a corner preparing a "harrow" to take a woman through the village on it. Amid general laughter and jokes, a cart was rolled up to the woman, on which they put an ordinary harrow that harrows the soil, moreover, they put their teeth up, attached hay, covered with a blanket, put the woman (although she did not really want this, since the teeth of the harrow on the uneven road were very clearly reminded of themselves) and a group with jokes they took the woman until she put a magarych, or to buy sweets.
P.S. The author of the article is Wild_Cats.
https://agentlotto.com
