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Where
Am I Archive
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Baptisms and Godfathering27th February 2006 I have learnt one important fact about godfathers in the Philippines. A godchild does not have one godfather, they have many. At May-May and Nathan's wedding, I was one of about eight or so godfathers. In New Zealand, we tend to only have one godfather per godchild. Dr. Panes is the local dentist and a nice guy. His English is very good and he is an easy guy to get along with. Dr. Panes and his wife recently added another member to their family, Seth Benedict. I was invited to his baptism. I initially wandered into a wedding, thinking that the baptism would follow afterwards. Turns out that the baptism was to be held in a smaller room off to one side of the church. I guess that since Catholics like to breed and get married, it is just not possible to hold all the weddings and baptism in the main church. The service itself was quite nice. I liked the way that symbols were used. Seth had the water treatment, a prayer chain and a everybody made a small cross on his forehead using some oil. Catholics also seem to be fond of their candles. Every service that I've been to in the Philippines have had candles, and the baptism was no exception. Once the service had finished, Dr Panes said to me, "By the way, your Nanenoy again". Nanenoy means godfather. A very nice gesture on his part. I think part of the reason that he asked me was that I turned up. I tend to go to more events like this than the other volunteers, which I know the locals appreciate. There was, of course, many formal pictures afterwards. I made an appearance in the godparent photos. The equally obligatory meal followed. Questions? Comments? Try contacting
me. (c)
2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
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