A Mother Blessing is a day or night gathering for your friends and family to come together to support you and your your birth. This is different than and in addition to a baby shower.
Mother blessing are inspired from Navajo Blessingways and other historical and cultural gatherings of women to give strength and support for the mother as she surrenders to the process of giving birth.
Guests can bring a snack to share, and I will provide additional food to make sure there is enough. I always bring fabric for a Birthing Flag (guests decorate with an inspirational image, phrase, affirmation, or design that relates to birthing or feeling empowered), and herbal tea that supports women. I also provide a table setting with tea cups, plates, and utensils unless you have your own you would like to use.
Some other ideas you may want to add:
-Pampering for you: Have an aromatherapy foot bath, foot and/or hand massage, or back rub to relive aches and relax.
-Birth Bead Necklaces: Have every women your support circle send or bring a bead. The beads can be strung into a necklace or other design. As you string each bead, the woman who contributed it can share a thought or the meaning behind why she chose the bead. Keep the beads close – during pregnancy, labor, and beyond.
-Feed the Freezer: This is not exclusive to mama blessing ceremonies, but it would be a great time to organize one. Each guest brings a frozen meal that you can put in deep freeze. This saves time and energy to prepare healthy meals after baby arrives. (Just be sure you’ll have adequate freezer space.)
-Share Positive Birth Experiences: Take turns going around the room telling what you most enjoyed about your births.
-Make a Crown of Flowers: Ask each guest to bring a flower. Weave the flowers into a crown for your head.
-Book of Mothering Wisdom: Have mothering friends (near and far) record gentle mothering wisdom. This could include wisdom pertinent to labor, to being a mother or partner, meaningful poems, whatever each mother wanted to contribute. One person could turn the notes into a keepsake book. If you hold an in-person ceremony, each mother could take turns reading her contribution before adding it to the book.
-Memory Box: Buy or repurpose a wooden box. Have guests help decorate the box to keep newborn keepsakes and/or trinkets from the mother blessing.
-Candle Ceremony #1: Give each guest a candle and have a large candle that will go home with you. With everyone gathered in a circle, light the candle of the woman standing next to you. As each woman’s candle is lit, the person can say a blessing or a few words about what she wishes for the birth. When she is finished speaking, she lights the candle of the woman standing to the left of her; it continues around the circle until it comes back to you. You can then light the large candle when you go into labor, and your friends can light their own candles in support.
-Candle Ceremony #2: Another idea is to have each guest choose a color of embroidery floss to tie onto the large candle. The large candle will be beautifully decorated with many different colors. The guests can tie the same color to their own candles, or you can choose not to give guests their own candles.
-Modge Podged Candle Jars: Using colorful tissue paper, have each guest modge podge a jar (guests can bring jars from home to make them more personal). Candles can be lit in the jars during labor to create a beautiful glow.
-Paint a Belly Cast: Using a premade belly cast , allow each guest to paint/write an affirmation or design.
-Henna: Allow each guest to contribute to a henna design on your belly, hands, or some other body part.
-Wish Tree: Create a miniature tree from a branch and plate it in a pretty pot. Have each woman write a wish for the birth using decorative paper. Tie the wishes to the tree as “leaves.”
-Nature Mobile or wreath: Every woman brings something from nature (a branch, a dried flower, crystals, etc.). Create a simple mobile to hang or tie them to a wreath – it can grace the birthing space and/or can be enjoyed by the new baby.
-Natural Centerpiece: Ask each guest to bring a flower. Gather all of the flowers for a centerpiece. You can dry the flowers and enjoy them at the birth or in your home.
-River Stones: Provide each woman with a smooth river stone. Ask the women to think of a word they would like you to have before and during labor. Each woman should write her word on the stone, then everyone can share why they chose their word. They can be put into a glass vase or container to keep at the birth and in your home.
-Plant a Garden: Have each guest bring a small perennial plant you can keep in your house or plant.
-Braided Bracelet #1: Using one or more long pieces of embroidery floss or yarn, have women stand in a circle and braid the pieces of yarn together, wrapping them in one continuous piece around each woman’s wrist. When everyone has joined the circle, you may have each person say something supportive to the mother as each woman cuts her own bracelet and ties it onto her wrist. The women can wear the bracelets until you give birth as a showing of support. (Some women choose blue and red strings to symbolize the vessels of the umbilical cord, but you can use any colors that have meaning.)
-Braided Bracelet #2: Alternatively, as each woman wraps the yarn around her wrist, she names her mother, grandmothers, and/or daughters as far as she knows, linking them back to Mother Eve.
it to a book.
-Labor/Motherhood CD: Ask each guest to send a special song that will be burned onto a CD that you can listen to (during labor if appropriate). Each guest can share why she chose the song.
-Stuff a Baby Blanket: Make a no-sew fleece tie blanket, but before finishing it ask the women to write a special message for the birth and/or baby on small pieces of light colored fabric. Take pictures of all the messages, then insert them into the blanket before tying it up. The blanket can be big enough for you, or a smaller blanket can be a soft toy for the baby.
-Record Personal Messages: For our friends who live far away, they could record themselves (audio and/or video) giving the mother blessings, well wishes, affirmations, or other messages of support and love.
The Mother Blessing is included in doula services. Gathering alone is $100
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