One assignment for Religion class at school was a paper about different religions. I was seventeen and went to a Catholic school. I was only vaguely aware that there were other religions apart from Catholicism. For example, I knew about Judaism but only through biblical references. That assignment was an eye-opener for me; it helped me understand a little more about our society.
My hometown’s church
How are children’s names chosen in your country? Do you follow ancient naming traditions or are modern names more popular? Do you pass names down through family generations or invent new ones?
We’ve had a lot of fun writing this post and the subject of how children are named in our various countries has inspired a lot of discussion within our team of contributors. So, read on to find out how children’s names are chosen in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the USA.
Have something to add? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
By Ana, regional contributor from Argentina.
There aren’t many clear-cut naming traditions in Argentina nowadays. In the past, first-born babies were named after their parents but now the focus is on distinctiveness. Parents choose names they like or that are fashionable. For example, when Argentinean-born Maxima Zorriegueta married Crown Prince Wilhelm-Alexander of the Netherlands, the name Maxima became very popular.
Canada is, without a doubt, a country of immigrants. The first groups of people, in the 1800’s, were citizens of France and England hoping to create a better life in the New World. Not much has changed, other than now we have citizens who originated from all over Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia, and Africa. They, though, did not just originate there; they brought a piece of their home to their new country.
Immigrants moving to Canada often keep their religion- attending neighbourhood churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. When religious customs may interfere with typical Canadian rules or traditions, we vote for religious freedoms.
Canada is officially a bilingual country. English and French are both taught in school and on most signs and on all of our packaging. But, the language diversity does not stop there. One can go to any park on a sunny day, or ride a bus, or walk through a crowded food court and hear families speaking multiple languages. My favourite was listening to two teenage girls switch back and forth between English and their first language- sometimes mid-sentence, sometimes just for a word. Or listening to the radio in the North- where I might hear three different aboriginal languages mixed in with the word “Whitehorse”. I always expect to hear different languages, and I never assume my English will be perfectly understood.
As an American living in Bali, I sometimes wonder how incongruous my personality is with the Balinese way of doing things. Our son’s babysitter comes over sometimes at night to babysit when we go out. And you know what she does while she waits for us? She sits outside and looks out into the night. She’s perfectly happy sitting and being in her own thoughts. I have to fight the urge to hand her magazines and a TV remote control. Me, on the other hand, I’m a multi-tasker. I read books about how to do more with less time (and re-read them, frequently). I judge each day by how much I got out of it, whether it be work, fun, pleasure, happiness or accomplishment. That is just my nature.
Our family’s goal is to live all over the world and to really experience it, so we try, as best as possible, to maintain a “when in Rome” type attitude. In London, we ate steak and kidney pies and drank ales and spent lovely long afternoons at pubs talking about rugby and the weather; in Ipanema, Brazil, we cheered along to the football games and listened to bossa nova. But, when Nyepi Day – a day of silence which marks the start of the Balinese Year – came around in Bali we sort of hummed and ho’ed about what to do.
A wedding is the binding of two hearts… preparation for a life to be spent together. An Indian wedding not just binds the bride and the groom, but two families, in a union which lasts forever! All over India, irrespective of region, caste or language, a wedding is a reason to rejoice, and it is a boisterous occasion filled with pomp and splendor, rituals and traditions, and of course, a huge number of people!
While some basic traditions are the same all over the country, there are a lot of differences in the way marriages are conducted in the northern and southern parts. In the south itself, there are subtle differences in the marriages conducted among the four southern states, differences emanating from cultural as well as regional differences. Let me describe to you a typical Tamil Brahmin marriage, celebrated in the Vedic style, where importance is given to the traditions and rituals which have been passed on over centuries.
Getting married is a very important social event in Costa Rica, as it symbolizes a new stage in life. A tradition still practiced today is the “serenata”, which usually takes place some days before the wedding ceremony. The groom arrives at his girlfriend’s house, by surprise, with his friends and a group of musicians who sing traditional romantic songs while the bride, her family and friends listen to it inside the house for some minutes before going out. In addition, it is customary for the groom to bring some roses for the bride.
The Wedding Bouquet (Photo by Laura Pardo)
Picture Postcards: Colours of Argentina
The Netherlands – a country of many names
Bucharest Seen From the Arch of Triumph
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