Salam Brothers and Sisters,

I recently had a baby boy and as usual (as always around here) everybody is asking when I will hold the Aqeekah ceremony. For those of you who don't know, Aqeekah is the ritual for newborns (boys and girls), where a sheep/goat/cow is slaughtered and distributed to the poor and needy. Since I've been reading free-minds for quite some time now, I can't help but ask Is this ritual or any aspect of it permissible according to the Quran? There's chanting,hair cutting, gold/silver, feasting and slaughtering and I need to know whether all this is some old arab/semetic tradition or is there some basis in the Quran.

I would really appreciate some help here.
Peace..