Maddy's Baptism

For most Filipino-Chinese, the baptism is celebrated at the same time as the baby's first birthday, which is referred to as 周晬 [Zhou Zui], or in Fookien - to tse.  Literally, to tse celebrates the baby's "one full year" and welcoming into the Chinese family.  Baptism, on the other hand, refers to the baby's welcome into God's family. The two occasions are jointly celebrated, primarily, I believe, to save on costs! However, we had ours when Maddy recently turned 7 weeks old.

A brief note on the paperwork involving a Catholic baptism --> First, we had to reserve a time slot with Sacred Heart Parish's baptistry. The reservation itself needed no payment or additional requirements.  However, the baptismal application needs to be submitted at least 2-3 days before the baptism ceremony itself. The application should be accompanied with: 

(a) the written approval/endorsement from the parish covering the territory where the parents live (in our case, it was St. Therese).  This was fairly easy to secure, though we needed to pay around Php500.00, if I remember correctly, and we needed to submit the photocopy of our marriage certificate and Maddy's Certificate of Live Birth and to present the original Certificate for comparison. We got the parish written approval/endorsement in less than 10 minutes;

(b) a photocopy of the marriage certificate and baby's Certificate of Live Birth; and

(c) a photocopy of the baptismal certificate of at least one (1) of the godparents, as proof that at least 1 of them is Catholic.

Second, the parents and at least a pair of godparents have to attend a pre-Jordan seminar at Sacred Heart, which is a seminar on what baptism is about, etc. Sacred Heart's schedule was only on Fridays, 7-8pm, and I disappeared about halfway through the seminar to pump breastmilk in the car. 

Third, you had to pay the parish Php100 for every godparent you had, and provide a stipend to the priest officiating the ceremony, if you were bringing your own. In our case, we invited Msgr. Ilde, also a friend of the family's, to officiate.

Maddy's baptism was slotted at 9am, though we started around 9:15am or so already since we arrived a bit late, due to traffic caused by closed/blocked roads for the Cebu Marathon that same morning. 

(drinking a bottle of earlier pumped milk so I wouldn't have to nurse during the ceremony)

(Maddy was squirming a lot and crying the entire time)

(apparently, the white baptismal gown is put on as part of the ceremony, signifying being shrouded in Christian dignity)

(with the ninongs and ninangs, with those from Manila flying in that morning just for the day)

(with my family who also flew in just for that day)

Lunch reception followed at The Ching Palace. It was just a small event, since we still have the first birthday party to save up for at the end of the year! We couldn't resist though at least having a dessert buffet! The cake was awesome as it was half banana sponge cake with choco-caramel filling, and half cookies and cream sponge cake with cookies and cream filling!

(the prettiest dessert buffet from LMG Pastry Chef! the cake was exactly as I had envisioned when I sent the owner my pegs)

It was a sweet and simple celebration, with close family and friends, and we couldn't be more thankful to all those who flew in from Manila just to celebrate with us.

*more pictures during the reception to follow as soon as I get ahold of the other camera used*