The old Chinese has many taboos for the pregnant which may
or may not be observed today.
It was and it is still believed today that a pregnant lady
should watch over her movements so as not to disturb her baby during pregnancy
or miscarriage may be resulted. Hence wise people of the old have figured out
some rules to watch over the well beings of a mother to be. For example:
It is still forbidden to perform house renovations and
repair if a pregnant is in the house such as hitting nails, breaking walls or
removing furniture. In that matter, it is also best not to move the pregnant
mother’s bed for the time being until the baby is safely delivered.
If these taboos are broken then the mother may experience
miscarriage, the baby maybe crippled or deformed. Perhaps it is due to the
reason that no one wishes to gamble on his/her baby that one would rather be
safe than sorry… some of these taboos are still being observed from generation
to generation.
Amongst all those taboos for the pregnant, one taboo is of
my particular interest. This taboo is called the worship of the ‘grandpa and
grandma of the bed’ (床公床母).
Legend has it that the ‘grandpa of the bed’ is fond of tea
while ‘grandma of the bed’ is fond of alcohol… So during the last day of Lunar
Calendar, household with pregnant lady would prepare some alcohol, tea, foods,
sweets, joss papers as offerings for the grandma and grandpa of the bed so that
they would watch over the pregnant mother and her baby during the pregnancy
period.
Old folks believed by worshipping the ‘grandpa and grandma
of the bed’, the baby’s ‘spirit of the fetus’ (胎神) shall
be protected by the ‘grandparents’.
People also believe that this spirit of the fetus moves
about in the house hence explaining the forbiddance of doing house repair
during pregnancy. For example, during the 1st Lunar Month, the
spirit is on the bed, during the 2nd Lunar Month, this spirit moves
to the bedroom window, while on the 3rd Lunar Month, the spirit is
in the living room and so on…
Other taboos for the pregnant would be but not limited to:
A pregnant lady should not sleep under open sky in the
wilderness. This is because people believe that there are many wandering
spirits in the open that might harm the mother and the baby. This is especially
true if the outside is foggy.
The pregnant is also forbidden to plug melons and fruits
because they represent fetus of the mother. The mother may experience
miscarriage if this taboo is not observed.
A conceived lady is forbidden to go to a funeral service and
cemetery because the aura of the places is not auspicious and bad aura may harm
the baby.
Outsiders are forbidden to visit a household with a pregnant
lady. This is meant to prevent misunderstanding… for if there are problems with
the baby later, the visitors may be blamed to cause harm directly or indirectly
to the baby…
Of course, most of the taboos mentioned above are not
followed now days… personally speaking, I would not recommend anyone do any
house renovation work in front of a pregnant mother.
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