Superstitions & Cultural Habits

Superstitions on pregnancy

Leis could harm an unborn baby. The notion is widespread in Hawaii and in Polynesia. “Pregnant women should leave their leis untied because the fear is that a completed loop can cause the baby to be strangled by the umbilical cord,” says Keali’i’olu’olu Gora, an expert on Hawaiian customs at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. “All five of my sisters cut their leis when they were pregnant.

Modern Orthodox Jews believe that pregnant woman should avoid funerals and burials. Some Eastern European and Mediterranean Jews believe that it’s potentially hazardous for a pregnant woman to be in such close proximity to death, and that recently departed souls may sometimes even linger around at cemeteries, explains Samuel Cohon, senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Tucson, Arizona.

• Pregnant women were forbidden to prepare food or help with farm animals as they may contaminate the animals
• If a woman is having problems conceiving then all she had to do to ensure success was to hug a pregnant woman
• In past times pregnant women were confined in order to ward off evil or the fairies swapping the child at birth
• If a woman wants her child to be fair in color then all she had to do was to look at a corpse
•  If a pregnant woman steps over a black cat this ensures great luck
• If a pregnant woman steps over any other color cat this is a catastrophe (pardon the pun)
• It is believed that if a baby kicks on the left-hand side of the womb it is female and on the right, it is male
• If a rat runs around a pregnant woman’s feet this will result in very bad luck

• If a ferret, stoat or weasel jumps over the stomach of a pregnant woman then the child will be born with a birthmark

Dais and traditionally-oriented women open doors, windows, locks and knots during labor in order that the womb may open. What is ritually accomplished in the outside world will be mirrored in the inside world of the body.

The woman is pregnant with male child if she:
– feels difficulties on the right side of her body,
– likes to eat wild animals and dry food,
– if attentively listen to stories about military actions
– if extends more right than left leg.

Boy or girl superstition. The woman is pregnant with female child if she:
– feels difficulties on the left side of her body,
– if she is happy
– if usually listen to music and sings,
– if she likes to watch the dance.

Pregnant woman is not supposed to eat rabbit meat because her child will be born with cross eyes They actually shouldn’t eat meat at all, no-one should! The pregnant woman should not climb to the fruit tree and harvested fruit, because the fruit will not be delivered next year and can be dry.

When you ask a woman about the gender of a child, she is carrying a female child if her face turns to red color.

If a pregnant woman seeks something from you, give it to her. If you do not do this, your eye will be sick or mice will bite your clothes.

Are there any folk stories, tales or superstitions you know about pregnancy or labor? Please share them with others by adding them as a COMMENT under this post! 

Thanks! And happy Sunday…