May is the month of baptisms par excellence, but not all are celebrated as we knew them, but it is a celebration that has left the church to become, also, a civil ceremony.
Some will ask "a non-Catholic baptism?" Yes. Although it may seem like a contradiction, the first civil baptism of Andalusia was celebrated on the last Saturday of May in Malaga. Although it has been said that it is the first in Spain, it is at least the third, the second in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Madrid (2007), and the first in Igualada, Barcelona (2004)).
This celebration, in which the rituals of a Christian baptism are absent, has been given the name of “name imposition ceremony” or “act of welcoming the community” in which the newly welcomed democratic welcomes born.
In both cases, family members and sponsors come to cover the newborn. But instead of the baptismal font, holy water and anointing as in the Christian sacrament, in the civil version there is a book for the inscription of the name of the baby and the godparents, a reading of the European Charter of the rights of the child and allusive poems as the 'Nana de la onion' by Miguel Hernández. Of course, the treat is the end of the party for any of the two versions.
Of course, there are opinions of all kinds, even controversial by the denomination of "civil baptism." For many it is an unnecessary celebration, for Catholics it is a cursilery because it is impossible to associate a Christian sacrament with a secular celebration, while non-believers consider that they have the right to celebrate a ceremony that is not a Catholic rite to “welcome the community ”to the baby.
On the other hand, there are those who think that although it is an excuse to organize a family celebration, it is more logical than baptizing him by the Christian rite and then not educating the child in the precepts of the Catholic religion.
Until now, parents faced two alternatives depending on their own beliefs: to celebrate or not to celebrate the sacrament of the baptism of their new child. However, this third option has emerged that does not seem to have great acceptance. What do you think of civil baptism? Would you celebrate it for your baby?
