Blessing by the cradle
People in China have always loved biology and praised life, and people also sincerely praised and blessed the birth of new life. For thousands of years, Zhengzhou has also formed an ancient baby birth custom, which is interesting to say.
Rural people in Zhengzhou call giving birth to children "happiness", boys "great joy" and girls "little Xi". Pregnant women are going to give birth. In the old society, midwives were asked to get ready at home, so that the women could sit on a small bench, put a clay basin or wooden basin to pick up clothes, and put an egg and a lock in the basin. After the baby was born, the midwife washed the baby with warm water, let the mother eat the eggs in the basin, said that she could regenerate the baby, and took the lock out and hung it at the door, which meant to lock the baby's life. If a boy is born, the clothes lattice is buried at the gate, which means that the boy can support the portal in the future; If a girl is born, the clothes lattice is buried under the tree in the yard, which means a flower.
After the baby is born, the father will tell his mother-in-law and relatives and friends the next day, calling it "good news". Bring gifts when you report good news. Gifts contain information of good news. When the gift is sent to the mother-in-law's house, the mother-in-law knows at a glance that her daughter has been born and can realize whether it is a boy or a girl. Give birth to boys with sesame cakes as gifts, give birth to girls with sesame candy, some give birth to boys with cocks, and give birth to girls with hens. On the third day of the baby's birth, the parties will present happy noodles to their neighbors, while the mother-in-law will take eggs, dried noodles, brown sugar and rice to her daughter's house for "three days".
In the old delivery mode, because the midwife cut the umbilical cord with unsterilized scissors, it is very easy to get tetanus and the infant mortality rate is very high. On the ninth day of the baby's birth, because the time for tetanus infection has passed, it is necessary to make a "wish nine", and some people celebrate it on the twelfth day. On this day, relatives, friends and neighbors all came to congratulate, and the host family gave a banquet to entertain the guests. Midwives are especially respected. Please come and sit on the table. Grandma's family will send rice noodles, brown sugar, eggs, children's clothes and other gifts, and relatives and friends will send gifts to the baby. At the end of the banquet, a bowl of noodles is essential. When the guests leave, the host family will send some boiled and dyed eggs back to the basket, which is called "hi-eggs". This habit has been going on for many years.
In the suburbs and rural areas of Zhengzhou, before liberation, it was popular to name babies by touching their surnames. Some people called it "broken surnames". The morning before the baby was born, the baby's father met the first person after going out, whether male or female, and he had to kneel down and kowtow to ask him to name the baby. This is called touching the surname. Most people who like to meet Liu Hecheng think that they can save their children's lives, because Liu and Liu are homophonic, and Cheng and Cheng are homophonic, thinking that they can make their children grow up.
After the baby's full moon, grandma's family will come to "treat", and the mother and son will live together for a few days before sending them back, also called leaving the full moon. This custom has been circulating for a long time and is still very popular in Zhengzhou urban and rural areas. When leaving home, the mother wears a red cloth strip on her head and the baby wears a red cloth on her head, which is said to ward off evil spirits. The baby's face was smeared with a strange gray by her aunt, and was wiped off by her aunt at her grandmother's house. When I go back, my aunt should put a white sticker on the baby's face, which means that the baby will live longer.
Babies have the custom of shaving fetal hair after the full moon, also known as "wringing hair" and "shedding fetal hair", which is an important part of the full moon ceremony. "Tokyo Dream Record" records: "After the bath, the baby falls, so sit down." Shaving the full moon head should protect the fontanel, and it can't be shaved completely. This is called leaving fetal hair. There is a saying that "the skin of the body is influenced by parents", and the shaved fetal hair will not be thrown away. Some parents collect it, some sew it on the baby's pillow, and some make it into a fetal brush as a permanent memorial.
Since then, every year, parents will boil eggs for their children in the morning and dye them red. Because eggs are round, which means everything is perfect for children. In rural areas, there is a saying that children eat eggs on their birthdays. Cooking noodles for children at noon is called "longevity noodles", but don't eat corn porridge on birthdays, because Zhengzhou dialect is called corn porridge "confused", which means not to confuse children.
It is not easy to have children, and it is even more difficult to raise children. Every parent wants their children to grow up healthily and smoothly, but not every child can avoid disaster. In order to let children grow up safely, people think of various ways to eliminate disasters and pray.
There is a custom of recognizing godmother in both urban and rural areas in Zhengzhou, which is called "recognizing michel platini's godmother". Some rural babies recognize relatives who have touched their surnames, some recognize relatives of many children, and most city people find relatives and friends to recognize relatives. When you get married, you should send noodles and snacks to the wedding, and make a pair of waist pants for the foster mother without sewing the crotch. When adopting a mother, put the baby in big pants and leak out from the crotch, which means it was born by the adoptive mother. The foster mother wants to hang a long-life lock engraved with "Long Life" around the baby's neck, which will be opened by the foster mother when 12 years old.
In addition to recognizing kinship, there is also the custom of giving children "hundreds of meals" and "hundreds of clothes", which means that children eat hundreds of meals and wear hundreds of clothes like humble beggars to support themselves.
After the baby is born, especially in families with several generations living under the same roof, when the children's grandmothers and grandfathers report good news to their neighbors, they will ask for a piece of cloth and make a hundred clothes. Especially those whose surnames are "Liu", "Chen" and "Cheng", the homonyms of these surnames are auspicious words, so the old people will happily accept an old piece of cloth sent by these families. The size and color of this cloth are not particular, but blue is better. Because the homonym of "blue" means that with blue cloth, monsters can't take away children.
Sewing hundreds of clothes also has a lot of attention, such as the direction of cloth patterns and puzzles, and there are established rules. Clothes should not be opened on the chest, but should be made into a large-breasted shirt with partial openings, also called a robe. This kind of clothes often leave a hole at the bottom, which is called the soul hiding place. After the child's full moon, it is sewn by the mother, which means that the child's soul always stays with the mother.
Zhengzhou folks also have the custom of cooking hundreds of meals for their children. On the first day of the first lunar month, elders hold babies and hold broken bowls in their hands, pretending to be beggars begging along the street. The number of beggars is 100, and then steamed bread, vegetables and rice are stewed into porridge for children to eat, which means that children will be sheltered by hundreds of families and avoid disaster. After eating a hundred meals, the elders should steam 100 copper coin-sized wheat flour buns, carry them in baskets, walk along villages or streets, and give a bun to children when they meet them. When the bun is finished, the disaster will be chewed by others, and your children will grow up safely, commonly known as "chewing disaster".
The custom of celebrating the birthday of the elderly has a long history. According to the age of the old people, the names of birthdays are different.
In ancient times, according to Jia Zi, Yi Chou and Bing Yin, 60 years is a flower, and people live to 60 years old, which is called the year of the flower. People in Henan are used to starting their official birthdays at 60. There is a folk saying that "you don't celebrate your birthday until you get a flower." After the age of 60, it is called "Little Beast" every five years and "Birthday" every ten years.
Birthdays are generally one year earlier than nominal years, 59-60 years old and 69-70 years old. After your birthday, you can't stop. It's usually to celebrate and turn to the tenth anniversary. In the old custom, some people who celebrate their 99th birthday are called "Bai" birthday, which means 100 is short of one. Centenarians often don't say centenarians, but only 99 years old, which means "ninety-nine, not enough to live".
The average family celebrates the birthday of the elderly every year, but the scale is relatively small. Usually, the younger generation will get together and hold a banquet to celebrate. Married daughters buy birthday cakes, and steamed buns are made into peach-shaped birthday peaches to honor the elderly. Now the countryside has also accepted a new form of birthday celebration, giving birthday cakes to the elderly, but many people avoid the unlucky words of "blowing out the lights and pulling out the wax" and don't light candles on the birthday cakes. But "longevity noodles" have always been an indispensable food to celebrate the birthday of the elderly. Children should add some noodles to the old man's bowl from their own bowls, which is called "longevity".
From the age of 60, some families will hold a large-scale celebration called "anniversary". In Daqing, some children also invite professional troupes to sing, show movies and ask people to tell stories to entertain them.