baby maryam’s aqeeqa

August 21, 2009 | Filed Under events, friends 

for a baby whose existence i only discovered at minus three months (thanks sara!!!), maryam’s appearance into the world sure made me happy! her mom is a good friend of mine from the college park days, and i was so honored and excited to be asked to take pictures of maryam when she was only six days old, the day her family conducted the traditional head-shaving ceremony and held her aqeeqa celebration. (the shaved hair is weighed and its weight in silver is donated to charity… i think!). anyway! so after we shared labor stories – amazing how i never get tired of hearing them and reflecting on my own! – we took some portraits of baby cutie-pie maryam with her hair still on, including some in an outfit her grandmother sewed for her that very morning, and the rest of the images show the actual head-shaving itself. i’ll include a few explanations with some of the images below… sara, thanks so much for the honor and i can’t wait to take more of maryam’s pictures in the coming months! btw, i didn’t get a chance to hold her at all last time – i expect some cuddle time in the future! :)

we started with some portraits using the great big window in maryam’s nursery:

then the arriving family members took some turns holding her while mama got ready:

maryam’s maternal grandmother sewed her this adorable pink shalwar kameez in the morning, just before coming over!

adoring elders looking on:

we took some quick family portraits, too:

after this, maryam was ready for her head-shaving!

her paternal grandfather had the honor of starting it off…

but others, like maryam’s youngest uncle here, had a turn, too:

when it was over, grandma placed the little hat she had sewn for the occasion on the newly-bald head:

this was the only smile i could capture on maryam’s face this day! oh well… next time, more! :)

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