The most creepy and strange rituals in honor of the newborn

Perhaps, after reading this article, you will be glad that you were not “lucky” to be born in one of the corners of our planet, where such sometimes terrifying rituals are performed in honor of the birth of a child. Next time, cursing your birthday, remember these unfortunates.

(Total 10 photos)

1. Top of the wedding cake

After the birth of a child in Ireland, as in many other countries, parents throw a party to welcome a new member of their family. However, in this country, newborns are also offered a drink. Usually at such parties, a specially preserved top of the wedding cake is taken out and, having moistened the pulp in whiskey, crumbs are scattered on the child’s forehead. And during baptism, parents sprinkle the head of the child with champagne.

2. Baby not touching the floor

Bali is home to many strange customs. One of them is setra ari ari. The ari ari or placenta (a vascular structure in the mother's uterus that provides oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus and also removes waste) is believed to be something that has a life of its own, so parents ritually bury the placenta in the cemetery. There is another very strange custom in these parts: children should not touch the ground until they are three months old, it is believed that before this age the ground is not clean enough for them.

3. Childbirth alone

In Nigeria, pregnant women from poor families are left to give birth alone, without any help. Because of this, many complications often occur during childbirth. The help these mothers desperately need may come too late or not at all. However, today some organizations have raised the issue, and their volunteers travel to the poor rural areas of Nigeria to provide medical care to expectant mothers.

4. The fastest crawler in the country

In Lithuania, there is a very strange festival, ironically held annually on June 1 - International Children's Day. Babies compete in the "Fastest Creeper in the Country" race. During the race, kids who are distracted and unwilling to crawl further are attracted in every possible way by enthusiastic adults with many bright toys, forcing them to crawl to the finish line. Of course, the babies look adorable and cute, occasionally bumping into each other.

5. Cold bath

In hot countries like Guatemala, new mothers seem to go to extreme lengths to keep their babies safe from sun allergies and heatstroke. They bathe babies in ice-cold water even as the babies scream in pain. After the painful procedure, the kids instantly fall asleep. However, no matter how cruel it all looks, there are witnesses who claim that Mayan babies are treated for prickly heat in this way.

6. Is it a baby or a spittoon?

In Mauritania, a country stretching across the African Sahara desert, there is a group of people called Wolofa, who have a strange belief that human saliva stores words and feelings. Therefore, you can often see a newborn, to whom mom or dad spit in the ear, on the face, and sometimes - to secure the blessing - the whole head of the child is covered with saliva. In the Nigerian Igbo tribe, they went even further: when a child is born, parents take him to their family nest, this always happens accompanied by a relative who must be a good speaker. This person becomes the main on a holiday. He is given the right to chew on an alligator pepper and pass his saliva into the child's mouth. This is done so that the baby grows up to be the same skillful speaker.

7. Numerous Chinese Traditions

To begin with, in some parts of China, at a wedding, the groom must carry his bride over hot coals so that in the future she will have an easy birth. Then, when pregnancy actually occurs, a woman must follow a special list of restrictions for pregnant women: do not gossip, do not laugh out loud, do not get angry, do not allow bad thoughts, do not sit on uneven mats (otherwise the baby in the womb may be damaged), avoid eating products bright contrasting colors (otherwise the baby may be born too dark), sleeping with something sharp under the pillow, such as a knife, because it wards off evil spirits, and, finally, no sex!

8. Genital stimulation

Some cultural groups in countries such as Thailand and India have a very strange way of expressing love for their baby - stimulating the child's genitals. One ethnic group in China is known for expressing their feelings for a child by stroking the baby's genitals if it's a girl, or by oral stimulation if it's a boy. Oddly enough, among this people, such an expression of feelings is not considered acts of a sexual nature, but kisses are considered and therefore prohibited.

9. Placenta for lunch

In the animal kingdom, females have a habit of eating the placenta after giving birth. Turns out it happens to people too. In some parts of India, Jamaica and China, it is recommended as traditional medicine. As unbelievable as it may sound, some practitioners believe that the placenta is very helpful in coping with postpartum depression. But many also express doubts about this. It is unlikely that this will soon become the norm, because you cannot eat the placenta raw due to the huge amount of bacteria contained in it, and cooking will most likely kill all the beneficial properties.

10. In isolation

Women in the Pakistani province of Kalesh also give birth alone, even without any help from the family. However, unlike in Nigeria, this is because women who give birth are culturally considered dirty and are sent to an isolated location in the city of Besleney. The only ones who can help a woman in childbirth are women who are menstruating at that moment, because this is also considered dirty.