Goddess Water - Ribeirão Preto

Cute chapel,no?

So, as I mentioned a couple of days ago before Motor Pool Madness, my niece was baptized last Saturday in a small chapel in Ribeirão Preto. I was pre-disposed to being amused by this event because my husband is an agnostic and he was the named godfather. Clearly God was not as amused as he sent us a very flat tire as a message.

In the end, we arrived only 15 minutes late. Everyone was waiting outside for the pastor to make his appearance. Apparently they will only show up after everyone is there. So we milled around a bit and looked at all the other tiny chapels arranged around this parking lot. It was shaded and as cool as Ribeirão can make it on a summer day (ummm, about 100 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Finally we went into the chapel, a small group of around 20 people. My niece Julia was not impressed by either her big poofy white dress or being dipped into the bowl of water, but that is no different from any other baby ever. 

Have you ever seen a saint showing some leg? Me neither.

There was only one tense moment when the pastor asked which saint the parents wanted to name as Julia's guardian saint. I saw my sister and brother in law look at each other like deer caught in the headlights. Fortunately, SIL's mom came to the rescue by saying "Nossa Senhora, right?" I assume that this is Nossa Senhora Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil, but I didn't ask. I find that the less I say about religion, the happier we are all going to be. I have been baptized and I went to church as a kid but my ignorance is infinite on saints, baptisms and well, everything including why in the world people were being encouraged to climb up the stone stairs next to the chapel on their knees.  

After the ceremony, they handed out little white net bags with a small bottle of holy baptism water and a cute little photo card of my niece.  One of my 7 year old twins immediately grabbed the bottle, pulled out the stopper and rubbed it on his forehead saying "Great! Goddess water!" Fortunately, this stopped his brother from drinking the water which he was on his way to doing. Last thing that twin wants is to turn into a girl, even a goddess girl.

Goddess water

We stood around and took some photos, and tried to calm an increasingly perturbed baby. The kids wandered off and I soon found them chipping some candle wax off the little outdoor prayer-stone-cross thingy. Sigh. Fortunately, there were no lightning strikes in the area so we got off lightly with the flat tire.

Yes, my kids chipped wax off here.

It was at this point that we made a break for Mr. Beer. I am a believer in pagan beer rituals...but that's a story for tomorrow.