Namakarana (Naming the Baby) –
The easiest, yet the most important of all rituals. This ritual decides what the baby will be called all their life. Their name on their documents, what would their friends call them, what would their parents call them? What qualities will they imbibe and what will be their traits are majorly defined by their name, making it one of the most important rituals for a child. Usually done on the eleventh or tenth day after birth, or the first new moon or full moon after birth, the naming ritual solemnizes the child as an individual. The child is now accepted and socialized by people around him or her. The infant is bathed and dressed in new clothes and their name is announced to the society.
The name is chosen by the parents or the aunt of the child, depending on the letters suggested by an astrologer, by looking at the child’s birth chart. It is preferable to name a baby in accordance with their moon, sun and ascendant signs, so that their birth chart and name is in alignment.
Sometimes, when the name and the birth chart aren’t in alignment, the person faces identity and traits crisis. Parents are advised to avoid evil words, and choose names after deities (so the child imbibed godlike qualities), constellations, derivatives from the names of the father and the mother, or place of earth nature, etc.
This Sanskara is also the cleansing ceremony for the baby, and the new parents are again showered with gifts as they enter into parenthood. The origin of this Sanskara is in The Satapatha Brahmana verse 6.1.3.9.
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