Christening Gifts

Christening normally refers to the Christian ceremony of baptism. Baptism is a ritual whereby an individual is admitted into the Christian Church by blessing through water. Amongst early Christians, John the Baptist is famed for baptising individuals by immersing them entirely in water (in a river). Since then, there have been a number of ways to perform the ceremony of baptism, either by throwing water over the upper torso, or even by splashing water onto the forehead. Baptism symbolises the cleansing of sins from the soul and an acceptance of Christ's death and resurrection, the water acting symbolically to cleanse the soul and allowing the soul to be quite literally born again.

As the ceremony forms a welcome into the Church, and forms a unity between the soul who has been baptised and Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is often much celebrated by Christian families. There are numerous traditions surrounding the christening of an individual. It is said, for example, that a couple should keep the top layer of their wedding cake as the cake for the christening of their first born. It is customary for christening gifts, such as religious necklaces, and icons, but also other non-religious gifts to be given to celebrate the baptism of a new soul.