'Perital' chadangu (Namakaranam) - Baby naming ceremony in Kerala

'Perital' chadangu (Namakaranam) or Baby Naming of babies in Kerala is done when they are 28 days old, or 56 days. A black thread or chain -an aranjanam is tied around the baby's waist on the 28th day. So this is also called 'Noolukettu' chadangu. Gold ornaments are not worn below the hip. The black thread around the hip of the baby which would also carry rings made of five different metals is supposed to protect the baby from bad demons. In Southern parts of Kerala, naming is performed on the 27th day if it is a baby girl. Baby is bathed and adorned with ornaments. The child's eyes are lined with mayye or kanmashi (Kohl) (Applying kohl or kaajal was not a habit for us, the main reason being the suspicion about purity of the kohl. Whenever we applied it, we made sure to make it at home, from the 'nilavilakku'). A black spot is placed on one cheek or asymmetrically on the forehead, to ward off the evil eyes. The father whispers the name in the child's right ear three times while the left ear is covered with a betel leaf. This is then repeated with the left ear. Blessings are bestowed as Aashirwad and also gifts are showered with the tradition of bringing good luck to the child. A mixture of ghee (melted and clarified butter) and honey is given to the infant as a base for its various foods in the future. Sometimes honey and vayambu (sweet flag) with a tiny bit of gold that is scraped on a stone is given (It is called oramarunnu- supposed to make one's words sweet to the listeners' ears. Hence the song 'Thenum vayambum naavil thookum vanambady'- The nightingale which sings with honey and sweet flag in its sound). But since our babies were a little premature and DrAG instructed us not to let them have too much outside contact for the first couple of months for fear of infections, we scheduled the naming ceremony in their 6th month only (Sept 2, 2012). It was done according to Tulu customs, with a puja, and finally calling their names in their ears. 

We had planned to name our babies linking the names of both our parents. However when my mother went to pray at Ernakulam Siva Temple after our triplets were born, she saw Lord Ganesh idol in the child form in the temple, and with a surge of emotions and bhakthi, she felt that her youngest grandson baby resembled Bal Ganesh idol. She wished to give him the name Balavinayakan, which all of us loved.  And we named our eldest baby Suryanarayanan (Jayasuryan's and Lakshmi Narayanan's grandson) and our little baby girl Devasaraswathy (Devaki Amma's and Sarasamma's granddaughter). We called them Ramu (Raman), Malu (Arya, Kutty) and Balu. Here are the pictures of the naming ceremony according to Tulu customs.

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