Ben's Rite of Passage Part 1

As I mentioned yesterday, we celebrated Benjamin’s Rite of Passage Ceremony this past weekend. Our family celebrates a Rite of Passage (a Christian version of the Jewish Bar-Mitzvah) when the young man shows that he is prepared to enter into manhood. I had a Rite of Passage several years ago, but Ben’s is the first manhood ceremony we’ve had in our family so it brought some surprises for everyone!

Here are some pictures from the weekend before the ceremony took place:

On Friday afternoon our grandparents, one of our Great-Aunts, and my Mom’s brother’s family came up to spend the weekend. Josiah enjoyed playing football with our cousin, as the weather was gorgeous throughout the week.

Meanwhile, we ladies were in the kitchen preparing the food for the fellowship dinner after the ceremony Saturday night. I baked several dozen oatmeal cookies and . . .

. . . my Abuela and my Titi chopped cilantro.

That evening we celebrated my Uncle’s birthday with chocolate chip cheesecake! It was VERY good!

Saturday morning found us doing even more preparations! We were cleaning up the house for the other out-of-town guests and friends who would be arriving early in the afternoon, we were warming up food, packing up cars, and trying to keep all 14 people who were staying under our roof fed!

My Abuela fixed a delicious lunch of Bacalao con Yuca, Vienna sausages, an assortment of crackers and nuts, honeydew, and punch.

Ben got all dressed up in his brand new suit. Doesn’t he look spiffy?

Family and friends started arriving at the house after lunch.

Another Titi visiting with Zack.

Daddy and Ben preparing to leave with the men for the ceremony which was held at our church.

The ladies and girls stayed home. We girls went on a walk with our friend K. We’ve been enjoying a week of Indian-summer here, making it the perfect day for a walk!

We returned home and got all dressed up and packed the remaining things in the car. Then we left to set up for the fellowship dinner at church following the ceremony.

Josiah and our cousin all dressed up (except for some socks) and ready to go to church for the dinner.

Come back tomorrow to hear about the ceremony!