Essay Example on Birth Traditions Around the World Childbirth

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Birth Traditions Around the World Childbirth occurs daily throughout the world despite its extraordinary nature The time of having a baby on the way is very exciting for everyone Therefore parents and relatives create plans to be made prior during after the birth All of these traditions vary from a country to another or a culture to another culture Every region of the world has its own special traditions of celebrating pregnancy and birth This paper will focus more on the most in three different cultures and their birth traditions Comparing them and knowing the reasons behind those traditions in order to have a better understanding of those acts and beliefs To have a wider picture this paper will discuss the three parts of the world which are China from the east Saudi Arabia from the middle east and Italy from the west Chinese birth traditions As mentioned previously every culture has its own tradition in all events especially childbirth or pregnancy According to Leah M Brown on her Babble article that in China the husband should carry his bride over a pan of burning coals when entering his home for the first time to ensure she will pass through labor successfully Also pregnant women believe that what they do see and eat will reflect on their unborn child so they read good poetry and don t laugh loudly Furthermore intercourse is absolutely forbidden during the pregnancy period for women Brown 2012 Moms in China spend 30 days in pajamas to recover from childbirth Imagine not being able to go outside drink cold water and even take a shower Lim 2011

This tradition is literally called zuo yue zi or sitting the month as new mothers are expected to just sit for a month to recover from childbirth Wu Lili is a Chinese mom in her 29th day after giving birth shared her thought with Jefferson Public Radio It's really the hardest thing to bear about confinement Wu says The first thing is that you can't wash The second thing is that the food is so bland But you really have to persist and it s very difficult Saudi Arabia birth traditions The Saudi culture and traditions are pretty much shaped by the religion of Islam Most if not all of the traditions have a religious reason behind them because the county is conservative and religious In Saudi Arabia fathers recite an Adhan in their infant s right ear so that it is the first words he or she hears In Hadith Sunan of Abu Dawood Narrated by Abu Rafi I saw the Messenger of Allah saws uttering the call to prayer Adhan in the ear of al Hasan ibn Ali when Fatimah gave birth to him Burhan n d So the origin of this act is the Sunnah of the prophet Mohammed the passenger of Allah which whatever he does all Muslims should follow Another major birth tradition in Saudi is the Aqiqah which is the community celebration to be held on the seventh day after the birth However postponing this celebration until a later date is acceptable Lee n d 



The Aqiqah food is basically one or two sheep or goats that the father slaughter for this event Italy birth traditions Traditionally families hang a colored bow on their door announcing the sex of their baby when a baby was born Relatives and neighbors are invited to visit and congratulate the family Unlike in most of the middle eastern cultures that the pregnant women do not tell anyone bout the gender of the unborn except for the very close relatives Another common tradition is to wrap the baby from his feet to his torso in a fascia basically a long piece of fabric By doing this practice families believe that the baby would grow up to have straight limbs Screnci 2013 This is really good solution for bow legs that is become more common between children The Baby s Name between the three cultures Saudi Arabia and Italy share a major naming tradition which is the first born male is to be named after his paternal grandfather and the first born female is to be named after her paternal grandmother but in Saudi even the first female is to be named after her grandmother In the other hands Chinese have a really interesting way of naming which sometimes they have four or five names for a person one for childhood period one for school one for after graduation and even one after death Brown 2012 Conclusion In short there are plenty of unique practices between the world s different cultures This paper tried to give an idea about each part of the world as mentioned previously There are many common shared traditions also such as the baby shower breastfeeding and menstruation period The more people know about other cultures and the traditions of other countries more they become engaged with the world in term of communication As communication plays a significant role in everyday life people must learn about other cultures to promote their skills of communication


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