BABY SUPERSTITIONS.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 21 August 1912, Page 2

BABY SUPERSTITIONS.

There are many strange beliefs still prevalent in all countries relative to the newly-arrived babe. Relics of the rude faiths of our forebears linger among the uneducated, and traces of pagan rites and fetish worship may often be found in the countrysides.

The Cockney mother will place a book under the head of her new-born infant that it may be quick at reading; she puts money into its first bath as a guarantee of future prosperity.

In Ireland a belt made of a woman's hair is put around the child's body to keep harm away.

Welsh mothers put into the baby's cradle a pair of tongs or a knife to ensure safety. In some parts of England also a knife is used for this purpose.

In Brittany, at the birth of a child, friendly women take charge of it, wash it, crack its joints, ana rub its head with oil to "set" or "solder" the skull bones. It is then wrapped in a tight bundle and its lips are anointed «vitfc brandy to make it a full-Breton.

In Greece a mother, before putting her child in its cradle, will cum around before the fire three times, meanwhile singing her favourite song to kesp off evil spirits.

The Spanish babe's face is brushed with a pine-tree bough to bring good luck; and t)he Turkish mother loads her little one with amulets as soon as it is -born, and a small piece of mud, steeped in hot water previously prepar- i ed by charms, is stuck on its forehead. In Roumania red ribbons are tied round the ankles of the babies to keep them from harm; while Esthonian children have scraps of asafoetida attached to their necks for the same purpose. Children born at the period of the new moon are believed, by the Vosges peasants, to have their tongues better hung than others, while those born at the last quarter are supposed to have less eloquence but better reasoning powers. A girl-baby is always precocious wh^n born during the waxing moon. A superstition common to every country is that iiJ is very unlucky to weigh the baby, or to cut its fingernails, which should be bitten instead. Another common belief is that if you rock an eropty cradle you will rock a new baby into it. An exceedingly widespread belief is that a baty must be carried upstii \-z before going downstairs on first leaving its mother's room The difficulty met with when the bedroom is already at the top of the house is overcome by the nurse placing a chair in the doorway, upon which she stands when she leaves the room for tJhe first time with the child in her arms. Primitive peoples, whose houses are uinoceut of -' stairs, lift the new-born babe high in +heir arms, toss it in the air, or climb with it into a tree. This is a kind of dedication. The Great/Spirit who lives above must be the first to whom the child is shown.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.

Knowledge is not education, and cau neither make us happy nor rich.