The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1905-01-28
SUPERSTITIONS


ODD BELIEFS THAT CENTER ROUND
THE NEWBORN INFANT.
In Some Parts of the World Children
Are Nourished by Proxy, While It
IL Almost Universally Considered
Unlucky to Weigh the Babe.
One Of the strangest Of the many
strange customs that center round the
| arrival into the world of a new baby
Is that which DEGREES that others-the
| friends and relatives of its father and
~mother-must eat and drink in order
that it (the infant may thrive and
grow strong.
This usage Is everywhere prevalent,
| though the nature of the sustenance
provided varies with the latitude and
longitude.
In the extreme north Of England it
ia rum butter" an exceedingly rich
but not unpalatable compound whose
main ingredients are butter, sugar,
rum and spices of various kinds.
Every person entering the house at
the time and for weeks afterward is
| given q taste, and the more people who
| can be got to partake Of the proffered
dainty the better it is supposed to be
| for baby.
Among the Aleutians frozen seals
eyes are considered the correct thing.
They are stored up in bags for months
beforehand, like marbles or sweets,
and on the eventful day n is handed
| tremendously to each visitor, who
sucks it as one would q lollipop. The
more seals eyes thus disposed Of the
more beautiful, limpid and bright are
baby's eyes supposed to grow.
The natives Of the upper Amazon
celebrate a birth with a feast Of jaguar
meat, Of which every n must par
take. By this means the child is en-
dowed with the sickness and grace no
less than with the courage and the
cunning which are the most notable
attributes Of this gigantic cat.
Similarly the Samoyedes Of the Lena
delta fatten their babies by proxy,
stuflng each guest with reindeer meat
drenched in fish oil. The Calmuck
Tartar, that his newly arrived Son
may grow up a fearless rider, sets a
banquet of horsefesh before all com
ers. Among the south sea islanders
honey is eaten by the relatives, there
by endowing the little n with that
sweetness Of disposition upon which
these simple people set such store.
Another belief that is exceedingly
widespread is that baby when it first
leaves its mothers room must go up
stairs before it goes downstairs. When,
as frequently happens, the mothers
room Is at the top Of the house and
there is consequently NJ upstairs the
difficulty is avoided by placing a chair
in the doorway for the nurse to stand
upon as she quits the chamber with
her little charge in her arms for the
first time.
| Primitive races, whose houses are
mostly one stored, lift the newborn
mite high in their arms, throw it into
the air or climb with it laboriously to
the top Of a tall tree. There is more in
| this than meets the eye. 1t is, in fact,
a species Of dedication. The child
must be first shown to the great spir-
II, who lives up aloft.
Often this is a solemn function, q
sacred ceremony, in which a whole
people take part. Thus among the
m~ountaineers of the Neilgherrtes a
thousand warriors accompany father
and babe to the great COW shed where
In the tribal gods are penned. Seven
times the wailing little creature is
hoisted high in air; seven times laid
low on mother earth.
And at each lifting and lowering the
assembled multitude beat their shields
with their spears, repeating aloud at
the same time a stated formula: MAY
a blessing descend upon our children!
May the cows, the calves, the whole
people, prospect"
Meanwhile no shadow must fall up
ON baby, nor must he be handled by
any one but the father
And, above all. newborn infants must
not be measured. To do SO would be
to invoke gratuitously all manner OF
calamity and misfortune upon their
poor little pates.
Almost everywhere, too, it Is con
.sidered unlueky to weigh them. The
mild Hindoo, the English peasant, the
dusky African savage. the Scottish
crofter, the Irishman, the German, the
Dutchman, all think alike on this sub
ject.
Dr.. Lumholtz offered a poor Hotten-
tot woman a sovereign to allow him to
put into the scales an exceptionally
Ane boy to whom she had just given
birth. Not only did she reject the
tempting offer with disdain, but the
worthy doctor narrowly escaped being
mobbed by her friends and relatives.
II you rock an empty cradle, you will
rock a new baby into 1t. There is not
10 county in England, Wales, Scotland
or ireland whore the belief Is not
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