The sun is supreme. Beyond all our beliefs and opinions, no one can deny that the sun means life. Our life would not be possible without the sun shining in the sky. Sometimes we have a sun next to us. She is my sun!
Little Ilinca made me a grandfather. Everyone who has children or grandchildren understands this, moreover, love for grandchildren is different than love for children. I can say it's different and I don't know why.
Today is Sunday and some of us usually share with others here the way they spent the day, if they consider that it was beautiful and sometimes even sublime. To be sublime, of course, something special, unique and emotional must happen.
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This Sunday was truly sublime for me, it was sublime because it was the day when my niece Ilinca turned one year old and it was the day she was baptized. It was also a very beautiful autumn day, a beautiful autumn day when it is neither hot nor cold, a sunny day. A day I want to tell you about.
When I want to talk about a day that was beautiful and sublime, it means that I have to talk about something personal, about how I perceived the day and I have to relate what happened to me. These are very personal things about my family and I hope I'm not wrong if I talk about them, I use these events to exemplify how I consider a day, this Sunday, to be completely special.
First of all, it was my niece's baptism. In Romania, most of the inhabitants are of the Orthodox Christian religion. I consider that I have a liberal approach to religion, I do not consider that one is more important than another and everyone has the religion that is in the part of the world where he lives. In general we do not choose it, it is given to us at birth.
Until a world like the one imagined by John Lennon is born, how much I would like to see it but of course it is a utopia, a beautiful utopia, until then we can only imagine it.
My world is not like that yet and I am afraid that Ilinca's world, which is now only a year old, will not be like that. I can't even imagine what it will be like.
I can only talk about how I spent a sublime wonderful day on Sunday that will remain in my memory until my world ends.
The Baptism.
There are many religions in the world, all with different ideologies and dogmas. With different ceremonies. Next I want to show a little of what baptism in Orthodoxy means. I hope this does not upset or offend those who have different customs and other religions.
The ceremony of baptism is always done in the church. In Romania and the Balkans, churches are generally small. They do not have the size and grandeur of Catholic cathedrals. Some churches are as small as an ordinary house. So is the church in the neighborhood where Ilinca was baptized.
Those who take the child to baptism are called godparents, after the child they are the main characters of the ceremony. And the priest.
Ilinca is a wonderful child. I have never seen a child like her, of course I am aware of my subjectivism but I think so now. That's why I said she's my sun now. Ilinca is a child who cries very rarely and when she does she cries very little, for a few minutes. At the baptism she cried all the time! It was very difficult for me to bear this.
The ceremony was long, lasting almost an hour. The priest could not and did not want to shorten anything even if I was afraid that little Ilinca would faint from so much crying. Fortunately, the main moment of the ceremony was reached and everything ended well.
It was a beautiful ceremony, a bit too long and stressful because the baby cried all the time. You may be wondering how to consider the day sublime if the child was so upset.
First of all because an important event happened in her life and then because her upset did not last long, because in children the upset is short and they forget quickly and because it followed ...
The party.
Tradition has it that after a baptism there is a small or larger party with those who attended the ceremony. We respected the tradition, especially since we had to celebrate the anniversary of the first year of my little niece's life.
We wanted to have this party close to home and we found a small restaurant, a family business, which we really liked. Of course, the rules imposed by the pandemic were observed, ie the distance between the tables and access only on the terrace, not inside.
Now everything has changed. After an hour of sleep, Ilinca became a good and serene child again, as we always knew her. Father, mother and grandmothers but especially the colored balloons were the reasons.
The idea with the balloons was very good.
Everyone felt good, we ate, drank, talked and enjoyed with Ilinca. It was a successful party, it was a beautiful day. Tired at one point, one by one the little ones gave up ...
The cake came too late.
Happy birthday Ilinca! We wish you a beautiful life in a better world.
It was a sublime and beautiful Sunday! It was a day with everything, joy, upset, waiting, hope, care, hope, joy. It was an unforgettable day!
