Appropriate attire for baptism, etc

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StBenMom

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I was baptized Catholic when I was eight days old so I have no idea what I wore, lol. My husband and children are catechumens and I am a candidate. I will be receiving my First Eucharist and Confirmation and at the same time they will be baptized. It is all taking place at Easter Vigil. Is there something specific regarding color or veiling we should be wearing? Our daughters are ages 6 and 4. From the sounds of it, I believe that our girls will also be receiving their First Eucharist, as well. Thanks!
 
Your leaders should give you guidance on this.

We baptize with the person standing in the pool and the water is poured over his head - he gets wet. Therefore we recommend casual clothes to that point. [It is all in the dark until then so the looks are immaterial] Then they change to Sunday best for the remainder of the mass.

If you are to be baptized in the pool do not wear white - it tends to become transparent when wet and this is not a wet tee-shirt contest. 😉

Currently we have those to be baptized wear a brown robe, burlap=sackcloth, until baptized. After Baptism they are clothed in a white robe. The robes are meant to be symbolic and go over ones clothing. They don’t provide much coverage.
 
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StBenMom:
I was baptized Catholic when I was eight days old so I have no idea what I wore, lol. My husband and children are catechumens and I am a candidate. I will be receiving my First Eucharist and Confirmation and at the same time they will be baptized. It is all taking place at Easter Vigil. Is there something specific regarding color or veiling we should be wearing? Our daughters are ages 6 and 4. From the sounds of it, I believe that our girls will also be receiving their First Eucharist, as well. Thanks!
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Generally the color of white is only worn AFTER Baptism. Grey or brown not necessarly black sort of a dull color should be worn before. Bright white after.
 
Thanks! I appreciate the help! My husband and I attend weekly RCIA classes in preperation for this and I guess I am just “over thinking” everything. I am getting so nervous! Nervous in a good way, of course! I cannot wait until my family and I can join you at The Lord’s Table!
 
I will, also be baptized, at Easter Vigil this year. I’m very concerned about what to wear when. Do all Catholic parishes dunk? I truly appreciate the symbolism, but I dread the practical problems involved. Do I need to have a dark dress and a bright white dress for the respective parts of the ceremony?

First, I fear that I’ll be the oldest adult (50 yo) to be baptized and second, I have long, naturally curly hair that I wear straight and will be a problem to manage after it is soaking wet for the remainder of the ceremony. I’ll have to endure the hair problem. I just wasn’t prepared for the full dunking baptism.

So many questions. My sponsor is a 65 yo cradle Catholic and I’m not sure how aware she is on the current baptism ceremony.
 
Congratulations to both of you who are proceeding in your Sacraments 🙂

In my Parish we do not dunk, we pour for Baptism so, for the most part you will only have a problem with a wet head. Check with your Parish as to how it is done.

My daughter’s best friend was Baptised about three years ago. She is under five feet tall, the Priest who Baptised her was also under five feet tall - our Baptismal Font is oh, four feet high. Both had to be on tip toe to administer/recieve the Sacrament.

Brenda V.
 
Two of my kids (ages 5 & 7) were baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass. My boy wore white shirt and dark blue pants and tie. Daughter wore a white dress. Pastor of our parish recommended white dress for daughter and outfit for son (which was good because 2 weeks later was first communion with his class and he wore same thing). We don’t dunk thank the Lord since we had all adults besides my kids and grown women just don’t take well to dunking after spending 30 mins to curl and style hair. I would say ask your pastor about what he thinks is appropriate. We don’t change our clothes here between Vigil mass and the reception celebration afterwards so guess this must be why pastor recommended white dress for daughter.
 
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LeahInancsi:
I will, also be baptized, at Easter Vigil this year. I’m very concerned about what to wear when. Do all Catholic parishes dunk? I truly appreciate the symbolism, but I dread the practical problems involved. Do I need to have a dark dress and a bright white dress for the respective parts of the ceremony?

First, I fear that I’ll be the oldest adult (50 yo) to be baptized and second, I have long, naturally curly hair that I wear straight and will be a problem to manage after it is soaking wet for the remainder of the ceremony. I’ll have to endure the hair problem. I just wasn’t prepared for the full dunking baptism.

So many questions. My sponsor is a 65 yo cradle Catholic and I’m not sure how aware she is on the current baptism ceremony.
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You need to wear decient dull, darkish clothes to the Easter Vigil if you are going to be Baptized. Parishes are different some immerse, some pour, and some kind of half and half. I suggest shower shoes for those who will be immersed. for others tennis shoes are fine. A dark collored tee-shirt and dark shorts works. forget the makeup, don’t spend too much time on the hair. After you can dry off and go off to change. You will have maybe FIVE+ minutes to dry and change. If a white robe is provided good street clothes under it are fine. Again forget the hair and makeup. If no robe is provided I suggest a white top at least. We give white bathrobes and white towels to soak up the water after Baptism for the transition out and white choir robes for the return.
 
If your kids are 4 and 6 I assume they will NOT make their first Communions that night. They will basically catching up with their peers in the parish and start/finish the catechetical prep necessary to receive their First Eucharist’s in second grade.

If the child was 7 then he would be a catechumen and be baptized and communed that night. Before 7 the ritual is different. I assume he would be confirmed at a later time.
 
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LeahInancsi:
. . .
First, I fear that I’ll be the oldest adult (50 yo) to be baptized and second, I have long, naturally curly hair that I wear straight and will be a problem to manage after it is soaking wet for the remainder of the ceremony. I’ll have to endure the hair problem. I just wasn’t prepared for the full dunking baptism.

. . .
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You are still young. The oldest I have had was 85.

Re your hair; our running joke one year was one of the women who had never been seen, even by her husband, with her hair wet. She survived. 😃
 
In our parish (we do full emersion) we have the candidates for baptism wear a bathing suit under a brown alb and flipflops or other waterproof sandals. (Our parish is big on the Franciscan look because our patron saint was one.) From what I hear, the neighboring parishes do something similar. Some of them just stand in a shallow pool and have a jug of water poured over them.

After being baptized they are handed towels and assisted to the bathroom where they can change and blow-dry their hair a bit. (It’s a fairly new parish. We are blessed to have bathrooms that can accomodate quite a few people.) They have anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to change depending on where they are in the order of baptism.

Since the pastor and one of the deacons get in the pool along with the candidates they need time to change too. That usually takes about 10 minutes. The choir and/or instrumentalists sing/play something while this is going on.

The newly baptized dress in white albs so whatever they wear underneath ought to look good with white.

I know this information is provided to those who will be baptized. I would expect most parishes would provide whatever info is needed as Easter gets closer.
 
Welcome home.

THIS IS JUST PROVIDED AS AN EXAMPLE.

At our parish, we sort of dunk, sort of don’t, as Brother Rich described. Only one lady was baptized last Easter Vigil, the rest were candidates. She wore white capri pants that were loose in the seat and legs, and not one but TWO white t-shirts, with a solid bra undeneath all that- which was good, because not a thing peeped out from the wet t-shirts. She then very quickly changed into what appeared to be a simple wedding-style gown. She and her sponsor appeared to have had the whole thing planned out, and got it done in about 7 minutes, including hair drying.

A couple years ago at Easter Vigil, a child of nine was baptized, confirmed, communed. She wore a modest swim suit, the kind with the longer, loose shorts instead of tight and revealing. After her baptism, she was then changed into a First Communion dress and veil.

Hope that helps. You could also try asking your pastor or DRE or RCIA instructors. They would know best.
 
Personally, I never understood the switch to baptismal pools, instead of the traditional baptismal font.

With a standard method, and a standard protocol and rite, everyone knew where to stand, what to say and what to expect. The liturgy stood a lot better chance of running smooth as silk.
 
Last year we did the Renewal of Baptismal Promises and the Sprinkling of the people while the neophytes were changing. The timing worked very well so we will continue to do it that way.
 
My parish is 50 years old and I’m not aware if we have a baptismal pool. I’ve seen pictures of a new parish church nearby and noticed that there is a baptismal pool built into the structure of the church (somewhere).

Since my previous post in this thread, I’ve figured out how I can wear my hair so it will be out of the way of the water and won’t frizz up like a clown. The clothes shouldn’t be a problem. I can wear a dark pair of slacks and top for the baptism and a light colored Easter-type dress for after the baptism that will look appropriate under a white alb assuming one will be provided.
 
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Kielbasi:
Personally, I never understood the switch to baptismal pools, instead of the traditional baptismal font.

With a standard method, and a standard protocol and rite, everyone knew where to stand, what to say and what to expect. The liturgy stood a lot better chance of running smooth as silk.
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I’ve been expecting a “standard method” with sprinkling of holy water until something said on this board tipped me off that I might have a surprise in store.

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ve thought, in the past, that the full immersion method used by the Baptists was a bit extreme. So much for that. 😉
 
To all of you who responded to my question, thank you for the support and suggestions. I feel much better. My RCIA group has several women about my age who assist the Religious Education Director with the class. I feel comfortable asking them about what to look forward.
 
All I can post is the classes for which I am scheduled and I am scheduled for a First Eucharist for Children parents preparation class once a month starting this month. When I asked Sister Mary why I was taking the class on top of my regular RCIA classes she simply pointed at my GIRLS and said, “For them” so it’s an educated guess that my GIRLS will be taking their First Eucharist, as well. Sister Mary comes from a community who has children taking Communion as young as 2. She has said, in the past, how our GIRLS will be baptized in the pool WITH their father and how blessed it will be for the whole family to be receiving their sacraments. Again, I was baptized Catholic as an 8 day old infant, was taken out of The Church at about age 6(RIGHT before my First Communion) so I have never taken communion at Mass because I didn’t have the proper preparation. Since I want to raise my children in my faith, I was asked if I was willing to attend RCIA with my husband, in preparation of MY confirmation and First Eucharist and to prepare my husband to live as a Roman Catholic Christian so he can be baptized, as well. So, in a nutshell, I am not going to be baptized and my GIRLS will be receiving their First Eucharist after baptism. By the way…we have a font/pool but do not immerse. It’s kind of like kneeling and bowing of the head(for adults) as the water is poured over their head. With infants, they are sat in the top font and sprinkled. No worries about my hair and I don’t plan on wearing makeup that I will just cry off in five minute anyway!! LOL
 
Thanks for everyones help!! As soon as I sort out which replies fit specifically to my issues,(i.e. no “dunking” at my parish, no albs provided afterwards, etc.) I will reply with a personal thanks! I am just trying to start “pre-planning” as in dress shopping for my GIRLS, etc. and I want to be just as prepared for this aspect of it as I am with my faith preparation.
 
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