赤ちゃんのための行事 (Akachan no tame no Gyouji) – Events for babies

18th May – 皐月

Following the yesterday’s blog お食い初め (Okuizome = the very first food that baby eats), today’s blog is also about babies’ events that is held for the first 1 months they are born.

お七夜 (Oshichiya)

The celebration feast event for the new born baby. It is held 7 days after baby is born (counting from the day after they are born. eg: when baby is born on 18th May, Oshichiya is held on 25th May). Gathering relatives and grandparents and announce the baby’s official name. This announcement is called 命名式 (Meimeishiki) and write baby’s name on the paper and put on the house shrine altar. When the mother gets well after giving birth (床上げ = Tokoage), family will take the paper off from there.

The first week of babies’ birth was the hardest part of life or death for babies and mothers in the old times, as that time there were poor medical systems in Japan. Therefore, Oshichiya was such a huge cerebration day for Japanese and this tradition is still inherited nowadays.

お宮参り (Omiyamairi)

Going to the shrine to wish for the babies’ health. This event is normally held a month after the birth – strictly speaking, if the baby is a boy, 31st and 32nd for a girl after their birth. The shrine is chosen based on the closest one where baby was born, and father side grandparents traditionally come for this event (However, nowadays it does not matter which side of grandparents come).

While many people visit shrine to individually wish for the baby, there are another way to conduct Omiyamairi – ask for priest to do purification and recite ritual prayer. In this case, family have to reserve the time and pay certain amount of money as honorarium. Either way, people tell the god about the baby’s birth and ask for the protection from god.