Pregnancy Taboos
I found these in an online book about Chinese superstitions. My favourite:
It is taboo for a pregnant woman to put an onion in her armpit : If this taboo is broken, the child will be born with bad body odour. (From Zhengzhou, Henan province).
Why a pregnant woman would wander around with onions under her arms is not clear. Some of the superstitions were not all bad, such as the mother should be given whatever she wants to eat, the reason given that her craving is actually the baby’s craving, fulfilling the baby’s needs. However, the result of denying her that food was that the deprived child would be born with “red eyes” (红眼病), this means literally bloodshot eyes, but also the Chinese belief that red eyes is synonymous with jealousy / covetousness (corresponding to green eyes, green-eyed monster in the West).
Other pregnancy taboos about foods that are forbidden for the expectant mother to eat include:
Fish: (Also from Henan) If the pregnant mother eats fish, her child will be born with scales. In ancient times, it was believed that pregnant mothers who ate dried carp would give birth to a child suffering from bad skin.
Dog: Dog meat is believed to be a good food for warming the body, so is eaten in winter and is especially popular in northern China. However, in Heilongjiang, it is taboo for pregnant women to eat dog meat in case their children are born wanting to bite people, which will cause the mother trouble when feeding the baby (ow). Henan also has this taboo – in Yucheng county in the east of the province it is black dog meat (the finest dog flesh) should be avoided, as it can cause birth defects and miscarriage. In times past, Han Chinese also held the same taboo believing it would lead to a difficult labour.
Crab: (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Taiwan) Eating crab will cause a difficult labour in which the baby is born sideways, a belief said to have been recorded as far back as the Song Dynasty (食螃蟹，令子横生). It is also said that the child will drool, with bubbles coming out of its mouth just like a crab. In Taiwan they say the child will claw at peoples hands and feet (an ankle biter?)
Soft-shelled Turtle: An old superstition that says the child will be born short necked (短项), connected with the way the turtle withdraws its head back into its shell.
Plum and pear: Another ancient superstition, that eating these fruit will make the child blind . The pear is already a “cold” (寒) foodstuff according to traditional Chinese medicine, so the expecting mother shouldn’t eat it anyway.
Rabbit: The child will be born with a cleft lip (looking like a rabbit’s mouth).
Donkey: The child will be stubborn and misbehave, not listening to his parents (just like a donkey).
Cockerel: The baby will cry at night.
Ginger: To prevent the child having six fingers.
(Chinese) Soft-shelled turtle 鳖 bie1 Other official names: 甲鱼, 团鱼, in English it also known by its Japanese name, Suppon. Their most distinguishing feature is the long pointed snout that allows them to snorkel with just their nostrils above the water surface. Their soft shells are actually soft, being made up mostly of thickened skin. For more see www.answers.com/topic/chinese-softshell-turtle and a very detailed description www.anapsid.org The soft-shelled turtle is used in Chinese traditional medicine, and apart from being good for lowering fever, night sweats and “steaming bones”*, it is also valued for increasing male potency (壮阳 ). I’m guessing the phallic connection is why the colloquial name for the turtle – 王八 wang2 ba1 – is also a term of abuse, as 王八 or 王八蛋 (literally “turtle egg”) equivalent to bastard or son-of-a-bitch.
Here is a Soft-shelled Turtle with Cream Sauce, from the Suzhou Government Website |
And a Common Soft-shelled Turtle from Blue Ridge Biological |
And an (American) Eastern Spiny Soft-Shell from Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre |
|
Image source: Prunus salicina fruit, flower
Prunus mume fruit, flower
