jacke on Nostr: I attended a very weird event today... Me, friends and other people were present in ...

I attended a very weird event today...
Me, friends and other people were present in and right outside of a building which had some very weird hand made pictures as decoration inside. Those pictures were of some ancient people that may or may not have even existed.

Many of the attendees were wearing their official outfits for special events. Especially women. Many of them were even wearing shoes that made them appear taller. Many of them had pain in their feet due to those shoes. You could tell by looking at their faces that had some weird uncomfortable expression. Many of the women also had their natural facial skin covered with some substance which made them look paler (although you could tell they wanted to look younger).

Now to the purpose of this gathering. Among all these people there was one small baby girl. Not more than just 6 months old. The parents of that baby were also present and of course all the attendees knew that the parents had brought the baby there inside the building. Inside the building, there was a man with a long beard, and a special outfit making him stand out of the rest.

Next to the parents and the baby there was also another man. You could tell that he was a friend of them and later i learned that he was the brother of the baby's mother. In the beginning the parents, the baby, the other man and the guy with the long beard stood right after the entrance inside of the building. The baby was sitting quietly in it's mother's hands. The beard-guy was speaking some words and the other man was repeating after him. When this finished, they all moved more inside and more people followed them.

This is were the most preposterous part starts....

The mother of the baby girl, took all its clothes off and the baby was fully naked. The guy with the long beard had a pillar-glass-shaped small pool in front of him with water inside. The other man was standing next to the beard-guy and the mother of the baby gave it to the hands of the beard-guy. Next, the beard-guy started speaking some words again while putting the baby inside and outside of the water repeatedly. The baby, that was already crying, started crying even louder. The other man took some small quantity of olive oil in his hands and put it on the baby's head. The baby cried even louder. The beard-guy put the baby inside of the water again, then out and then placed it in a towel inside of the other man's hands. By now the baby was crying on top of its lungs. The mother and the father of the baby were not attempting to stop the process. You could also see that their faces were smiling (not very wide though).

Next, the other man with the baby's mother, took the baby aside and placed it on a small bed and started dressing it. No need to mention the baby was still crying loudly. When they finished dressing it, the other guy took it in his hands, tried to comfort it, not with very good results and gave the baby to it's mother.

That is pretty much when the event finished. Only the beard guy said some more words this time talking to all the attendees and with some wishes about the baby's life to be healthy and happy and have some invisible man from the sky and his spirit watch out for her during her life.

The general, wider purpose of the event was that the beard-guy while putting the baby girl in and out of the water, was telling a specific name (Lydia) which now is the legal name of that baby girl because it was "assigned" to her through that process and all that event.

After all these finished all the attendees had a very rich lunch with all the expenses being covered from the baby's, Lydia's parents. Of course most of the attendees (including me) had brought presents for Lydia and her parents, someone could say paying back the lunch expenses in another form.

This is the end of the story.

I tried to describe it as well as possible, although during the process i had to go out briefly because i couldn't stand to watch and listen to baby-Lydia crying on top of her lungs. Something inside of me just snapped after this. It just didn't felt right.

This is the process of orthodox-christian baptizing and is common practice in the country that i live. I was also put through that process when i was a baby, although the orthodox-christian priest did not say the name "Jacke" for me. I 've been present to many events like this one during the years but this time was really something else for me.

If you ask all the parents why they are doing it to their children some will tell you that it is their religion and they have (and want) to follow it. Others (maybe the majority) will say that they just do it because it is a custom and they do it because all the people are doing it.

Well, customs are always subject to changes i say. No one is forced to follow them. And if i ever become a father, i am not putting my child through that process.

*this is just me and everyone else can choose for their children*
*although someone could easily argue that this process is violent and has to stop*

Thank you Nostr!