Naming Ceremony

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People of Uygur, Hui, Uzbek, Tatar and other ethnic groups usually invite the imam to preside over the naming ceremony for their child one week after his/her birth. The parents will invite their relatives and elder members of the family to attend the ceremony. The imam stands towards the west at the center of the ceremonial stage and will firstly chant the prelude of the Koran the Shahada and so on, which means the child has accepted the call of the Islamism. Then the imam holds the child wrapped with pretty swaddling clothes and looks at the holy face of the child. The imitative caller of the prayer will present as a follower to attend the religious service on the Mosque turrent with his forefinger in one ear and lightly chant:”Allah shall be thegreatest and the master of the earth, Mohammed shall be the herald of Allah..”At the familiar and solemn voice, all guests stop smiling and read silently theShahada and silence reigns in the hall. After that, the imam will gently pull the delicate ears of the baby and continue to sing:

The call to your right ear is the call of the Mosque

The words to your left ear are the annotations of the Kora

Allah has bestowed the name on you

From now on, your name shall be xxx!

After repeating 3 times, the imam will put the child in the front, rolling the wrapped baby one time or twice to make him scared and cry out loud and then the guests’ facial expressions will immediately turn into smile from solemnity. First, the elders, for example, the grandfather, will swiftly pick up the baby and call his/her name, amusing him/her and saying a few words of blessing and pass the baby to the next guest. The child is passed to one another according to their seniority in the family and their age, and the naming ceremony comes to an end until the baby is passed to the father and then to the mother on the bed.

In Uygur, Uzbek and Tatar ethnic groups, the baby was usually named by his/her grandfathers, grandmothers or the imam presiding over the naming ceremony in the past. Nowadays in cities, parents will choose a name full of novelty for their child. The Hui people now hold the ceremony mainly to name their babies with a Koran name, which is an Arabian name used by the Hui people. When the child grows up and needs to go to school, they will give him/her another name which is called “the formal name”. Because mandarin is the national language, the Hui people mainly adopt a Chinese name in their social communications.