Monday, November 14, 2011

A Blessingway

Last Saturday the 5th (Ladybug's original due date) she and I headed out of the house to attend a blessingway* for a good friend of mine whom I have always referred to on this blog as, Roberta.  I've known Roberta and her husband for a long time, you may recall my sharing a certain one of my it-could-only-happen-to-me type stories involving her and her husband a while back. Roberta and Chris have a son who is a year older than Little G and the four of us hang out together on Tuesdays during the summer on CSA pickup day.

Anyway, she is due with their second baby in early December so she held a blessingway to celebrate the upcoming birth and we were invited.  Since it was Ladybug's original due date, we didn't think I would be able to attend, but since she showed up early, we were excited to be able to participate.

When we got to Roberta's house, she was at the end of the process of getting a large henna tattoo on her belly. She had the artist draw a cross near where they think the baby's heart is and then she gave the artist carte blanche to do whatever she wanted.  The picture is below and you can see it was gloriously beautiful!

After the artist was finished with Roberta's belly she offered to draw on our hands.  Below are the many beautiful designs we ended up with.  (Mine is on the far left)


The henna itself dries and then you flake it off and it leaves a dark yellow tattoo on your skin.  The next day, it darkens.  You can see what mine looked like the next day, below.


There were many mommies there, a couple of us with new 'second' babies who are still nursing, so they were invited as well.  At one point Ladybug napped alongside another baby friend and we all joked that they looked like they were passed out at a frat party.  There may have been mention of getting a couple of empty beer cans to use as a prop for the photo below, but they seem to emulate the drunken-passed-out look just fine without props.



After most of the guests had left, Roberta's husband and son came back from their outing and Ladybug and I spent some time with them.


I remember getting the invitation for the blessingway and being disappointed because I figured I wouldn't be able to attend and I wanted so badly to go and support Roberta.  Thankfully, Ladybug apparently can't miss a good party so we were both able to attend.

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* so, what is a blessingway? My husband asked the same question and I tried to explain that it was an event to celebrate the new baby and mother that was different than a shower.  I explained that a shower had games, and balloons and themes and cake whereas the blessingway was a place to share stories and give blessings to the mom-to-be.  Of course my husband immediately said, "will there be food and cake?".  To which I answered, "yes".  Which then prompted him to snark, "than it's a shower."

Whatever, blessingway or shower, it was an awesome afternoon filled with friends and love.

Have you ever attended a blessingway?

2 comments:

  1. I've never even heard of a blessingway before, but I love the concept!

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  2. Such a great idea!  I love celebrating for each new babe :)  Were there presents?  Also... you look SO great momma!

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