ABSTRACT

The birth of a child is an important event for itself, but the infant is beyond the reach of language. Social recognition and representation of birth bestowed by language and by other signifying systems, is primarily concerned with the significance of this event for others. There are rituals associated with this event in earlier societies. Registration is obligatory for all children born in Britain, the contemporary secular equivalent of rituals of incorporation in tribal societies. Parents can also have their child baptized. Another more secular option is to publish a birth notice in a paper, either in the local paper or in a national paper like The Times. Not every parent will want to do this, since its function is presumably to mediate a relationship with a manageable community who would be likely to be included within the readership of the paper concerned: either a local community or a supra-community united by all its members taking The Times.