If you have read my other post on baptism, you know that I was raised Baptist and have now started the journey toward Lutheranism. My husband is farther along on this journey than I am. However, we have decided as a family to have our children baptized and to celebrate this. My feeling is that if we are going to do it, then I want to know why and do it well. So we have come up with a family tradition that we now do for each member of our family on his/her baptism birthday.
We start by letting the family know that the baptism birthday is coming up so that everyone is excited, like on their birth birthday. Our girls are getting to the question stage, so we answer questions and get them excited. The next thing we do is make coventry cakes. (I think this is actually what the girls are most excited about right now.) During my research, I discovered something called a coventry godcake. This was a British tradition in some places where it was good luck for a godparent to give these to their godchildren on special occasions. You can read more about that here, http://globalcookies.blogspot.com/2007/10/england-coventry-godcakes.html. This seemed perfect for us to serve as a special treat. We only make these for the baptism birthday celebrations. I will have the instuctions at the end of this post, with the meanings we talk about with the kiddos. This is something we have morphed into our own, but I really like it. This year the girls are 3 and have been able to help me make these, so it is a family event. The actual birthday celebration begins after supper. When we are done eating our family supper, my husband lights the baptism candle. Right now little man is the only one who has his own. In lieu of our own candles, until I get around to finding and ordering ones for the rest of us, we use plain white candles. After the candle is lit, my husband reads something appropriate. Right now this usually just consists of the "Prayer in Remembrance of Holy Baptism" from the Lutheran Book of Prayer. (Side note: The first time we celebrated one, my hubby had a very long reading picked out and it ended with our very small girls crying for the cakes. We now will adjust as the kiddos get older.) After the reading we let the birthday boy/girl blow out their candle. We then talk about the meanings of the coventry cakes and baptism while we eat the cakes. This makes for a really cool evening for the family. As the kids get older, we will have them call their godparent/baptismal sponser too. I know this isn't a perfect system, or right for everyone. However, if anyone else is looking for ideas, I hope this helps.
Here are the instructions for the coventry cakes that I make. (Mostly so I don't misplace it again) Please keep in mind that this is not a cooking blog. :)
Halvorson Coventry Cakes
Puff pastry
Nutella
powdered sugar
milk
First, we get a package of puff pastry from the freezer section of the grocery store.
(I should add that I like this partly because it is easy.) Preheat the oven to 400F. After following the thawing instructions, I roll out the dough a bit and then cut it square again. I then cut the square into 9 smaller sqares (a 3x3 grid) and cut each smaller square diagonally once. This gives you a top and bottom for each cake. The triangle shape represents the trinity. Then cut three slits in the top piece, to represent the wounds of Christ. I have never done anything to the bottom piece, but today the bottoms puffed up and a couple flipped up on end, so next time I think I will poke the bottoms a few times with a toothpick so they bake flat. Then, add a tsp of filling to the middle of the bottom piece. We use Nutella, but the original recipe called for a mincemeat filling. Place the top onto the bottom, you can pinch the corners together if you wish.
Let cool. After they cool I place them on a special plate and make a quick glaze of powdered sugar and milk to drizzle over the top. This represents the white of being washed clean in baptism. Enjoy.
