---
title: "Welcome Ceremony Instead of Baptism, Switzerland | Bagtun"
description: "A non-religious welcome ceremony for your child, with your closest people and the four elements. Personally created by Timo Schaffeld from Bern."
url: https://bagtun.ch/en/ceremonies/welcome-ceremony/
lang: en
---

# A welcome ceremony for your child

New life enters the world. This moment deserves a direction.

There is hardly a purer moment: a person with everything ahead of them, feeling the earth under their feet for the first time and truly seeing the people around them for the first time.

As fresh as the water of Lake Walen, as warm as the sun on a meadow in June: that is how we shape the welcome of your child into this world. With your closest circle, with the people who count, we open the space for pure joy. We laugh, we marvel, we celebrate. And we pause, so that this moment can land.

## The four elements

I gently welcome your child with the four elements this world is made of. Not as a ritual for the parents, but as a gift for the child. So that it never forgets where it comes from.

- **Earth.** So that it never loses its grounding, wherever life may blow.
- **Water.** So that emotions flow like water.
- **Air.** For the breath, the first and every one after, and for the space in which it may grow.
- **Fire.** So that the fire warms, shines and shows where life is.

> Deeply rooted. A new human being.

## Who the ceremony is for

A welcome ceremony is free of denomination and creed. It suits families who want to welcome their child festively without baptising it, and families with different religions or home countries. Older children, foster children and siblings can also be placed at the centre this way.

If you have godparents or other important people at your child's side, they get their place in the ceremony. It is not an obligation, but an invitation.

## Good to know

The ceremony does not replace a baptism and has no legal effect. It is what it is meant to be: a celebration for a new human being. Ideas for the flow are in the guide [Welcome ceremony instead of baptism](https://bagtun.ch/en/notes/welcome-ceremony-instead-of-baptism/).