The rite of introducing a person to God is in almost every religion in the world. In Christianity, it is called baptism. For a long time it was customary to baptize a newborn baby so that from the very first months of his life the child would be under the protection and patronage of the holy forces, the guardian angel. In order to conduct the ceremony, the baby's relatives invited godfathers. There is this tradition to this day.
What does it mean to be godfathers
So, godfather - who is this? The godparent of a child in relation to his blood parents. To clarify: for the baby himself, he is precisely the spiritual father. The role of the godparent in the sacrament is to take responsibility for the godchild before God. For his spiritual development, for educating him in the spirit of Christian truths and values. But for mom and dad of a newborn, he is just godfather. This, who does not know, can check with the priest in the church, so as not to get confused in the terminology. Once, at the dawn of tradition, it was enough to invite one person for the ceremony - a man, if they were baptizeda boy, and a woman - if a girl. Accordingly, a representative of the weaker sex was considered a godmother for a child and a godfather for her relatives. Later, they began to invite a couple so that the child would have two second parents. Often they really replaced the real ones in many ways, helping first the child, and then the adult: with advice, financially, etc. By the way, another answer to the question: “Who is the godfather?” sounds like this: this is a man in relation to the woman with whom he baptized the baby. In rural areas, most often a married couple is called for the role of godfathers - their friends or good acquaintances. Sometimes godparents are chosen from blood relatives. Naturally, these are already adults, accomplished people, necessarily baptized themselves. Godfathers can be senior and junior - in the event that several people are invited for this. Then one more lexical meaning opens at the word. Qum is (if in doubt, we refer to the explanatory dictionary) each of the men who participated in the rite of baptism, in relation not only to the parents of the baby, but also to each other. Women are kums, or kumki.
Bosom friends
Explanatory Dictionary is a wonderful book, a true storehouse of wisdom. Scrolling through it, we can find out additional useful information regarding the word of interest. It turns out that a bosom friend is also called godfather, with whom they unite spiritual and business relations. And for the female there is a similar designation. Of course, kuma!
At the festive table
But back to the ceremony. Afterbaptism, the whole honest company celebrates the holiday at a richly laid table. There are toasts and toasts. It is even customary to hold competitions for christenings for godfathers. Most of the time they are joking. For example, if the couples are young, they can be given the task to swaddle the big doll first, and then the godson, put a diaper on him or rock him if he screamed too much.
If they are still childless themselves, you can bring a head of cabbage and offer to “undress” it - supposedly there, inside, there is a hidden prediction of who will be born to them first - a boy or a girl. When the godfathers begin to separate the leaves, the presenter will joke that, they say, how naive, they are looking for a child in cabbage! And, of course, gifts. If you don’t know what they give godfathers for christening, do it traditionally. Usually these are tablecloths, towel sets or other home textiles. Sometimes warm scarves for men, scarves or shawls for women. In ancient times, of course, all things were sewn, knitted, embroidered by ourselves. Now they are content with factory production. And, of course, dishes - commemorative cups, saucers and the like.
However, the main thing is not gifts. It is important that the little man finds really second parents in his newly-born godparents and himself, when he grows up, would become their support in old age.
