Offering a baby crib to mark a new turning point in your childs life

The cradle ceremony is a long-standing cultural and spiritual feature of the Vietnamese people, marking the day when the baby turns 1 year old. Carrying out the cradle ceremony to pray for the peace and the best things will come to your baby.

In order for the cradle ceremony to take place smoothly, you and your family need to fully prepare the offerings, the content of the cradle offering is very thoughtful. If there are elderly people in the family (grandparents, parents ...) who understand this, this is an advantage for you. Please consult their opinions about the preparation of offerings, cradle-only vows for your baby. If you do not have the above advantage, please refer to the following article of aFamilyToday Health to know what offerings you need to prepare for the ceremony, what the content of the cradle offering is ...

What is a crib?

"Cradle" in the folk sense that your baby will no longer be in a crib, that is, stop using a crib when he turns one year old. This is a memorable event, marking the child's development. From here, children can freely go out to play and learn. At the same time, the cradle ceremony is for you and your family to give thanks to the 12 midwives and his highness for shaping the baby, covering up and protecting the baby.

The date of the cradle ceremony is usually calculated on the lunar calendar and calculated by the baby's gender. The traditional rule to choose the date of worshiping cradle in the past is "a boy is less than 2, a girl is less than 1". That is, if the baby is a boy, calculate from the date of birth of the baby's lunar calendar 2 days back and if the baby is a girl, it will be 1 day back. The timing of the cradle ceremony depends on your family's choice, but usually the ceremony is usually conducted in the morning.

Offering offerings to children depends on worshiping customs, customs of each area where your family is living or your family's situation. During the cradle ceremony there are rituals for your baby to choose toys for you and your family to predict your baby's future career. This is quite an interesting procedure in the ritual for your family to predict your child's future career.

What does the cradle ceremony need?

In fact, depending on regions and circumstances, there are many differences between the offerings on the cradle offering. You can increase or decrease the amount of offerings depending on your family's economic conditions. Basically, how many altars in a house would require that many platters. Usually, the cradle worshiping ceremony has 3 main worshiping trays: the 12 midwife and the grandfather worshiping tray, the worshiping tray for Mr. Dia, the god of Tai and the worshiping tray for Mr. Tao. In addition to preparing gifts for the cradle, do not forget to give your baby a beautiful birthday cake.

In addition, you need to prepare a toy tray (symbolic toys for the profession: pens, computers, cars, planes, combs, stethoscope, microphones, dolls ...) for your baby to choose. items that your baby loves.

1. Trays to worship 12 midwives and the lord

During the cradle-only ceremony, the 12 midwives and the great-grandfather offerings usually have the following offerings:

1 boiled chicken

13 cups of white bean tea (if it's a baby boy's cessation ceremony) or 13 cups of watery tea (if it's a girl's cradle ceremony)

13 dishes of sticky rice (sticky rice with beans, sticky rice with rice, sticky rice with three flavors ...)

1 bowl of white porridge

1 small glass of wine (used to sprinkle on flowers after worshiping)

Betel and areca plate

Fresh flower vase

Five fruit tray (depending on the season or according to the worshiping custom of each region, you choose the right fruit)

2 candles to offer stars

3 incense sticks.

2. Trays to worship Mr. Dia, the god of Tai

1 plate of fruit

1 cup of tea (water drift or white beans)

1 plate of sticky rice

1 set of slugs: boiled eggs, shrimp, and crab

5 glasses of water

Vase of flowers

3 incense sticks.

3. Worshiping tray for Mr. Apple

1 plate of fruit

Vase of flowers

Candles

1 plate of rice, salt

3 cups of water

Teapot

1 plate of betel and areca

3 cups of tea

3 dishes of sticky rice

3 incense sticks.

Only a cradle offering

After you have completed the preparation and presented the offerings to make the baby's cradle-only offering, you need to prepare the cradle-only vows to pray to the ancestors to bless the baby healthy and growing fast. The crib offering for boys and girls has the following general content:

Male model Amitabha Buddha!
Male model Amitabha Buddha!
Male model Amitabha Buddha!
Male model Great Compassion Bodhisattva

- I bow to the First Heavenly Lady
- I bow to the Third Heavenly Emperor
- I bow to the Third Heavenly Lady
- I bow to the Three Sixties

Today is date… month… year… (calculated according to lunar calendar, for example: February 27th of lunar year this year read as: Giap Tuat day, Ất Mão month, Mậu Tuat year) You and your
wife are …………… ... gave birth to a son (boy / girl) named …………
We live at ………… On the
occasion of the child's full year, we sincerely repair the incense and flowers, the offerings presented before the judgment, first the table of the seat, the gods respectfully process:
Thanks to the grace of the Buddhas, sage saints, fairies, gods, earthquake, earth geophysical god, ancestral ancestors, for you I gave birth to my grandchild, my name …………… .. was born on ………………… with a round mother, square child
Bowing to the fairies, the gods descending upon the sentence, witnessing the sincerity to enjoy the gifts, bless the dignity, protect the children to eat well, sleep well, or eat fast, not sick Infinite, infinite, helpless, bless the baby to be beautiful, intelligent, bright, peaceful, strong, and blessed in life. My family is blessed with a peaceful life, benevolent causes bloom, bad karma dissipates, four seasons are indefinitely thoughtful.

Please sincerely prostrate, bow for witnessing your sincerity.
Male model Amitabha Buddha!
Male model Amitabha Buddha!
Male model Amitabha Buddha!

Above is the content of the general cradle worship for children. At each offering tray, you pick up your baby, light incense and bow and change the names of people who need to pray in accordance with the ritual.

Rite of the baby picking and picking toys in the cradle ceremony

After finishing the cradle ceremony, you perform a very interesting symbolic ritual that allows your baby to pick and choose objects. This is a ritual of "choosing a career for the future" of children. From the first object your baby picks, you and your family will predict your baby's future career and personality. After your child chooses a toy they like, you and everyone else will bless, give them gifts and celebrate.

The symbolic meanings of some objects in a specific toy tray are as follows:

Handheld calculator: If you choose this item, in the future, your baby will probably be a financial expert, accountant, banker or a successful trader, mathematician, researcher. ...

Stethoscope: The fact that your baby loves to choose a stethoscope shows that he loves this interesting toy. In the future, your baby can become a doctor, nurse or a health care professional, psychologist ...

Books: Children will be very eager to explore, learn, always know by themselves to build knowledge for themselves. In the future, the baby can be a teacher, writer, researcher ...

Pen: Pen is an item associated with writing-related work. If he chooses the pen first, in the future, he or she will probably be a famous teacher, writer, poet or reporter ...

Micro: This is an item attached to the work that has to talk a lot, often appear in public. If he chooses the microphone, he may be a famous orator, politician, radio announcer or MC in the future ...

Aircraft, cars: These are the favorite toys of most boys. Therefore, it is easy for children to choose this item. In the future, he can be an engineer to build a car, an airplane or a pilot or even become a professional racing athlete.

Doll:  This is a toy that girls love. If your little princess chooses a doll, her future can become a nurturer, a fashion designer or a beauty specialist ...

Mirrors, combs, hairpins ... are the items that are often "in sight" of the little girl. If your baby chooses one of these items, your baby shows the tendency to be interested in beauty, interested in the beauty and beauty of appearance. In the future, she can be a beauty-loving princess.

Kitchen set:  If your baby chooses this toy, in the future you will probably have an excellent chef. Therefore, you have the opportunity to enjoy delicious food and show off your child's culinary skills. If your baby later expresses his desire to participate in culinary competitions, please support him. That can be a good start for her to become a famous chef, an outstanding restaurant manager or a famous culinary critic.

The ritual of children picking up toys for you and your family to guess your future career is for reference only. Therefore, in raising your baby, you should not base on the baby that you pick up but force your baby to avoid unfortunate mistakes.