Seventh Year Ceremony

In this world, the infant mortality rate is relatively high (being based on the 1700s in general) so a child reaching their 7th birthday is considered a great thing! It means there's a higher chance that they will make it to adulthood. It also means that it's time to give them their "grown-up" name - a name that contains the name of an ancestor, usually, as parents are less afraid that ghouls will come to snatch their child away from them at this point. So, while their name at birth is usually generic or nature-based - Ziele, for instance, means "herb", while Ian, Juan, Johannes, or Ianto mean "John" - their second name is a sign of the family they belong to. Their name now will read as [birth name][seventh birthday name][surname or combination of surnames], usually, unless of course it's a culture that puts the surname/family name at the front of the name.

History

It mainly stems from the Slavic tradition of a young boy being taken into his father's employ to take up the family business, typically a trade, and a young girl beginning her training to be a lady of the house - either she learns how to sew, clean, cook, organize, make housewares, and mind children, or she learns how to organize others into doing those tasks for her.

Execution

There are several key variations on this theme. The Slavic people started it as far back as the 3100s. The Josunese people (based on the Koreans) have two precursor events to the Seventh Birthday Ceremony: the Hundredth Day and First Birthday Ceremonies. All three ceremonies then require the child to dress in special clothing (for Josunese people, a little dress with five colorful stripes on the sleeve is required) and make offerings to the ancestors or visit ancestors' graves in thanks while making prayers to the god/goddess of their choice. In connection with the idea that spirits are trying to take the baby away prior the Seventh Birthday, Celtic practitioners traditionally avoid having the celebration on one of the eight sacred harvest holidays so as not to attract trouble. Some regions, especially wealthier ones, might bump the Seventh Birthday Ceremony's events to the tenth or twelfth birthday, but many consider this to be tempting fate.