It seems only appropriate that I begin to think more about the blessings of motherhood during the month of May (another one of my new favorite holidays, Mother's Day). I recently stumbled across some information regarding these "alternative" baby showers that are often called Blessingways, Mother-Centered Baby Showers or Mother Blessing showers. These showers are a long standing tradition that some origins have been linked to the Navajo Indians who use the term "Blessingway" to signify a ceremony that is a prelude to a major life event. This information intrigued me mostly because I have never really enjoyed our "American" baby showers, not even the ones for me. It really had me thinking as I started to ponder the real significance of our baby showers and what was the meaning behind all of this.

The Blessingways or Mother Blessing showers are an old idea that seems to be grabbing the attention of others like myself. The concept is that the mother-to-be is involved in the planning process in creating her specialized ceremony where very dear friends and family gather. The emphasis is on heralding the expectant mother along with her strength, her beauty, dignity, her womanhood and her incredibly powerful changes that occur during pregnancy & birth to bring new life into this world.

There are usually rituals associated with the cermeony, including creating birthing necklaces (where attendees bring a bead with them as a gift), herbal foot baths, sharing birth stoires, passing on blessings and good wishes, giving gifts and feasting on potluck fare. Other ideas that have been considered are: making a belly cast before hand and having guests decorate it, painting the mother-to-be's belly and photographing it or passing around a baby blanket for each guest to draw or paint on.

The ideas of these alternative baby showers is to celebrate the pregnancy, the woman and the child in a very different way. I've been researching these concepts and also thinking more about our own ideas of celebrating pregnancy, birth & motherhood in America. What is it that we do to celebrate in our pregnancies? Unfortunatley, I didn't come up with a very long list. Well, really only one, which is our traditional baby shower where we all buy her a gift from her registry where she usually ends up with 25 onesies and 2 dozen receiving blankets and we play some games that include wrapping toilet paper around her belly and trying to guess how many squares. Usually the celebration focuses mainly on the baby and only scratch the surface of the pregnancy, birth & parenting experience. I think that we unintentionally forget to celebrate for the right reasons. Perhaps this is why these "alternative" baby showers are gaining in poularity since the 1970's when some American midwives began to adopt these ideas from Navajo rituals.

Well, as usual, when I see something that makes me this excited I am going to start something new in Tulsa. We are working on developing a program at Natural Lullabies to help anyone who wants a "Mother Blessing" shower in Tulsa, can now have their very own.

Details will be released in our June newsletter about our newest idea. We are working on finding the right women to help guide us on this journey and working out all of the important details. If you are interested in having a Mother Blessing shower for yourself, a friend or a sister, please fill out this quick & easy form and we will let you know the details as they become available.