April 10, 1999- Heather's
Baptism Heather loves
anything Russian. I knew that. I don't know why I was surprised
when one day at dinner, we were talking about an event taking place on
the 10th and Heather's baptism was mentioned. My head sort of snapped
to the person and went, "What?!" The person replied, "Oh, yeah, Heather's
getting baptized at her Russian Orthodox Church."
So, Heather was baptized
on April 20th into the Russian Orthodox Church. A bunch of us went
with her, to support her, after having our clothes approved by her.
(Which was funny, since she wore a neon and black floral bathing suit through
the ceremony. That and a bathrobe. J)
Heather's mom and cousin even drove down for the event and was there.
Let me state right now
that I probably should learn not to expect things.
That being said, the
church was absolutely nothing what I expected. It was this tiny little
church, not even the size of my house. The first thing we saw when
we walked in was a kitchen/dining room where, I've been told, they eat
after services. A little table was set up in the center of this room
and behind the table was a big blue barrel full of water. The people
were nice, commenting that this was one of the largest baptisms they've
had in the church. They chatted with us and answered our questions
very politely. Heather's sponsor, Magdalena, showed us around the
actual church, which was beautiful, covered in flowers and icons, with
a lovely decorated vibrant blue ceiling with gold stars. The
priest, Fr. Paul Bassett was a very cute little older man, all religiously
hairy (long hair, long beard), and very polite and kind.
Then came the ceremony.
We all stood in the kitchen/dining room area around the little table as
the members of the church who had attended chanted and sang along with
Fr. Paul, who chanted the entire ceremony. Because they do so few
baptisms, they don't know the ceremony by heart and Fr. Paul had to read
the ceremony from a prayer book. When Heather had to read, she and
Fr. Paul would read from the same book. At one point, she prostrated
on the ground, sounding to me like she clunked her head, and as she's getting
up, he leans over and says, "Oh, yeah, you have to read this!"
Being a Catholic, I
know about baptism and I know about the chrism, the oil that the priest
uses to anoint the person being baptized (and in the Catholic Church, confirmed).
But, my goodness, I've never seen a ceremony where someone is so completely
covered in the stuff! First, they anointed her hands (top and palms),
her feet, her neck (front and back), her ears, and her forehead.
Then, he anointed her again in all those places, and finally, when she
submerged herself in the water, Fr. Paul had dumped the extra chrism in
it so she was literally bathing in it.
The women of the church
made Heather a baptism robe to wear after the dunking and when they put
it on her, her head popped out of the top in quite a humorous manner.
I'd say kind of like a groundhog at the Zoo popping out of a hole. J
Heather's mother was
a little upset about the whole thing and seemed not happy about what was
happening. However, Fr. Paul and Magdalena talked to her and she seemed
better later.
Overall, it was a very
interesting experience and one that I'm glad I had.
