The First Communion is one of the most important events of our religious life. According to tradition, among the sacraments, is the one lived in the most festive and joyful way. Since ancient times, in fact, great celebrations and banquets were organized because of the pride parents felt when their children first were attending the Holy Mass.
Still nowadays, on the day of First Communion, family members gather to take part in the event together with the child, expressing great joy and emotion for the religious event and participating in the celebration in honour of the child.
Being one of the most important moments of the life of a Christian, the First Communion cannot be reduced to a simple party where you have fun with friends and relatives, but it has to be a great moment of religiosity and growth. For this very reason, every moment has to be filled with symbols and religious items, that remind the importance of the event.
Religious items that are in the various moments of the First Communion are numerous and need to be chosen with awareness, apart from being adapted to the right time of celebration and the following ceremony.
The religious items that have to be selected for the celebration in church of the Eucharist are mainly the ones that the child wears: the choice of white tunics, symbol of purity and approach to Christ is very important; another important sacral item to choose is the crucifix that has to be worn with the white habit. As an alternative to crucifix, there may also be a tau, a cross shaped like a Greek letter which has become a symbol of St. Francis of Assisi’s passion and poverty.
The child dressed like this will be inserted into a world of values and symbols that are part of his identity even though he doesn’t know them yet: in this way he will be ready to face the celebration and live it deeply.
Other religious items that can’t be missing during this important day are the ones that represent the primary symbols: the chalice and the host. These symbols will be frequent during the celebration of the First Communion and may be present at various times for example on the cake or on different medallions, necklaces and bracelets. It might be nice to have even a larger representation present at all times that accompany the child in the church and then during the ceremony even participating in some photos.
Among the religious items, also the canisters can be inserted in a First Communion. In fact, even though the canisters can be chosen among the secular objects, they may not reach all the public that will have to receive them. Therefore, choosing a sacred object for a canister will increase the share among friends and relatives and will still remember the religious importance of the celebration. Even personal or household items can be chosen as a canister. There is, in fact, a wide range of personal objects like necklaces, bracelets, keychains and other objects that depict moments or sacral objects like the image of the crucifix, of the chalice with the host, of bread and wine, of Virgin Mary, of angels and many more. Even household items can be chosen like small pictures or statuettes, depicting the same symbols. Personal items that can be chosen for the canister can also be a viable alternative for a gift for the child who took the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The sacral gift may or may not be matched with a more ludic gift, but it still serves the main purpose of reminding the child the importance of the event that he is experiencing and to insert him into a reality made of symbols and faith, which he is beginning to know.
Apart from the gifts already mentioned, the child can also be offered other gifts, very important for his life as a Christian. Among these there is mainly the rosary, which can be preserved or worn, either as a neckless or, in a less cumbersome and uncomfortable way, as a bracelet.
Another idea for a gift might be a sacred book, first of all the Bible or the Gospel, that can be an instrument of prayer. Other books can be directed straightforward to the prayer with a didactic intent or narrative style, telling parables or stories of saints. All these genres can be suitable for children that still have a lot to learn. Among them, however, the most popular and symbolic is the crucifix hanging on the necklace, that the child wears dropping it on the chest, as a sign of closeness to the heart, always feeling accompanied by the new figure of Christ, who entered in his life.
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