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The Wishing Party

From: Ellen Birkett Morris
Length: 01:55

Afghan ritual offers insights to American teen. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: The Wishing Party
From: Ellen Birkett Morris

Default-piece-image-1 The afternoon my mother brought out the pamphlets to discuss "becoming a woman" was awkward, secretive and solemn. It left me with more questions than answers. Like the millions who’d gone through "the talk" before me, I knew there was something missing. When my friend Jan’s daughter, Cat, approached 13, Jan racked her brain trying to come up with the right way to mark the occasion. Then she got an e-mail message from a mutual friend describing a "wishing party" for a baby girl in Afghanistan. Friends and family gather around mother and baby and offer a wish for the baby’s future. Cat’s wishing party was born.

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Piece Description

The afternoon my mother brought out the pamphlets to discuss "becoming a woman" was awkward, secretive and solemn. It left me with more questions than answers. Like the millions who’d gone through "the talk" before me, I knew there was something missing. When my friend Jan’s daughter, Cat, approached 13, Jan racked her brain trying to come up with the right way to mark the occasion. Then she got an e-mail message from a mutual friend describing a "wishing party" for a baby girl in Afghanistan. Friends and family gather around mother and baby and offer a wish for the baby’s future. Cat’s wishing party was born.