All My Children

The event of a new birth is a time for celebration and thanksgiving in most parts of the world. Family and friends visit the mother and the new baby to wish them good luck and happiness. Gifts are offered, usually food, clothes, toys or money, and religious prayers or custom-led domestic rituals are enacted for the infant. An orthodox Jewishfamily may pin a red ribbon to the crib to ward off the ‘evil eye’; in Bali, the placenta is taken and solemnly buried; in the ancient world it was a custom to place the new-born immediately upon the ground. ‘Man alone at the very moment of his birth‘, wrote the learned Roman, Pliny the Elder, ‘cast naked upon the naked earth…’

In the face of great mysteries, communities have always evolved rituals or symbolic or sympathetic acts in order to meet the event rightly when commonplace words or deeds are inadequate. The appearance of a new individuality in the world is accompanied by joyful wonder and solemn responsibility.

At a Hindu birth, even before the umbilical cord is cut, the Jatakarma ceremony takes place. This is a special purification ritual in which offerings are made. A little while after the birth the baby is given a sweet and holy welcome into the world. A little honey is put into the child’s mouth and the sacred syllable ‘OM’ is traced on his tongue with a golden rod.

A Muslim father will whisper the great Call to Prayer (Adhan) into his newborn’s right ear. These will be the first words the child hears spoken. A second prayer (Iqaama) is whispered in his left ear. A drop of honey or date juice may also be placed in the baby’s mouth.

On the day of birth in a Sikh family, the parents present friends and relations with boxes of sweetmeats. In return they receive new clothes, money and cloths for turbans. The words of the Mul Mantra, the basic teaching of Sikhism, are whispered in the baby’s ear. Soon after the birth, the child is taken to the temple where the great prayer of remembrance (Japji) is recited and honeyed water (Amrit) is prepared — a few drops for the baby and the rest for the mother. The holy book (Guru Granth Sahib) is opened at random and the first letter of the first hymn on the page will become the initial letter of the child’s name.

A baby born into the Jain religion will usually have the first letter of his name determined by astrologers according to the time, date and place of birth.

According to Jewish tradition, the birth of a boy is especially welcomed in the expectation that he will say memorial prayers for his parents after their death.

A girl is born a Jew, but a boy needs to confirm this with circumcision, which usually takes place eight days after the birth. Long ago it was the custom to plant a tree when a child was born — a cedar for a boy, the fragrant cypress for a girl. At the time of a marriage, branches would be cut from such trees to support the bridal canopy.

In some parts of Europe an apple tree would be planted at the birth of a boy and a pear tree planted for a girl. The ancient practice of ‘wetting the baby’s head’ (literally by pouring water), stemmed from archaic rites relating to fertility and growth.

The first celebration for a newborn Chinese baby comes, traditionally, one month after the birth. It is known as the Fullness of the Month and the guests, members of the immediate family, bring symbols of happiness (red eggs), of longevity (white eggs), of prosperity (acacia incense) and of beautiful children (flower seeds). On the day of birth, a Chinese baby is traditionally considered to be aged one. The child will be endowed with another year on each New Year’s Day, so a child born on the last day of a year will be two years old the next day! It has been a tradition to hang a portrait of the Mother of Heaven in the bedroom during the pregnancy, to guard the mother and child. At the ‘Fullness’ ceremony this would be removed and tied to a paper balloon. A lighted taper within the balloon ensured that the Mother of Heaven was carried back to the starry sky, accompanied by the heartfelt gratitude of the family.

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