20 Surprising Old Baby Traditions From Around The World

In 17th- to 19th-century Britain and North America, families would make a huge wheel of hard cheese to be ready during the groaning, which is what they called labor. The father or midwife would scoop out the middle of the cheese to feed the women attending the mother through weeks of lying-in, her postpartum recovery at home. So yes, the cheese had its own job to do while everyone waited. Only on baptism day, once the rind stood empty, did they pass the baby through the hole for luck.

In Tudor and Stuart England, godparents would present the child with silver “Apostle Spoons” to mark the baptism. Each spoon was topped with a carved figure of one of the Apostles. A complete set consisted of 13 spoons: the 12 Apostles and one “Master” spoon bearing the figure of Jesus Christ. The more affluent godparents would give a complete set, which would serve as an ongoing financial asset for the child to sell or pass on.

Aqiqah, an Islamic tradition roughly 1,400 years old, is celebrated seven days after a child is born. The baby’s hair is shaved off and weighed using a precision scale, and the equivalent amount of silver or gold is given in charity by the family. Additionally, a sheep or goat is slaughtered, and the meat is given to friends, relatives, and those in need.

During Doljanchi, which celebrates the first birthday of a Korean baby, the baby wears hanbok, traditional Korean clothing, and is placed in front of a table full of objects. During the Doljabi ceremony, whatever object the baby picks, be it a thread symbolizing long life, a calligraphy brush to represent academic success, or money for wealth, is believed to point to what their future holds. Quite a lot riding on one grab from a table! The tradition has continued in Korean families for generations.

In China, because the infant mortality rate was so high, the actual celebration did not begin until after a child’s first 30 days, when the family threw a Man Yue (Full Moon) party to celebrate the baby’s survival. Guests were given hard-boiled eggs, dyed red for good luck, with pickled ginger. Odd numbers of eggs were given if the baby was a boy, according to Yin/Yang numerology; even numbers if it was a girl. In return, guests gave the hosts money placed in red envelopes called hongbao.

Between the late 1800s and 1950s, hospitals had policies that prohibited fathers from being in the delivery room. Upon hearing the news of the birth, fathers would pass around cigars tied with pink or blue ribbons that said “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl.” Separately, after World War II, women started having a type of baby shower centered around an upside-down paper parasol that released an array of small gifts below.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, affluent European parents presented their infants with silver or gold teething rattles adorned with smooth, red coral beads and tiny bells. Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote, in approximately 77 A.D., that red coral was believed to protect against the “evil eye,” a harmful supernatural gaze. Perhaps the coral’s coolness relieved aching gums, and the bells provided amusement.

In Korea, families celebrate the 100th day of a baby’s birth as Baek-il, acknowledging that the baby survived what was considered a treacherous period for infants. They make baekseolgi, a kind of white rice cake, and give the cakes away to at least 100 people. That’s a sizable guest list for someone only 100 days old. Legend says this will ensure the baby a long life.

A roughly 2,000-year-old Chinese postpartum custom known as zuoyuezi (Sitting the Month) calls for the new mom to rest indoors for 30 straight days. Female relatives would cook the new mom a soup of pig’s trotters with black vinegar, ginger, and eggs. Traditionally, it was believed to restore lost body heat and help milk production. Many Chinese families have continued the custom for generations.

During “the groaning,” or labor, families baked a cake heavy on cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and dried fruit. This cake would be consumed by the mother and her female helpers (known as her “gossips”), and folk belief said that its spicy fragrance eased her pain (though no one ever claimed it actually did). Any slices saved after delivery were thought to serve as fertility charms.

The wealthy families of Renaissance Florence and Siena commissioned painted deschi da parto (birth trays) to celebrate a new mother’s return to health. The mother’s female relatives would bring her broth, sweetmeats, and wine on the desco da parto, a round wooden tray decorated with mythological or birth-related imagery. After she had returned to good health, the tray would be hung on a wall, preserved for several generations like any fine art.

Guests in the 17th- to 19th-century birthing room were served caudle, a warm, thick, spiced drink of wine or ale combined with gruel, eggs, sugar, and spices. It was drunk from two-handled silver or porcelain “caudle cups,” designed for easy passing back and forth between the mother and her attendants over several weeks of recovery.

In Celtic and British folklore, babies that were taken outside were given a small packet to carry attached to their swaddles: salt for cleanliness, bread for sustenance, a silver coin for good fortune. The baby was certainly leaving home prepared. Some families gave food, called a “christening bit” in Scotland and Northern England or a “kimbly” in Cornwall, to the first person they met on the way to the christening ceremony.

According to a Gaelic Highland custom, as documented by folklorist Alexander Carmichael in his 1900 volume of Highland folklore, Carmina Gadelica, a new baby was carried three times around the household hearth fire in a sunwise or deiseil direction, following the direction of the sun, to consecrate it to the house and ward off the fairies. The baby was carried around the fire but never through it.

Some people, particularly in Germany and Switzerland and within certain Jewish circles, would plant what is known as a “Tree of Life” (Lebensbaum) for each newborn baby. An apple tree would be planted for a boy, a pear for a girl, and in some traditions they’d use cedar for a boy and cypress for a girl. The hope was that the child and tree would grow together through the years.

In Victorian England, pregnancy was generally kept private, and celebrations only occurred after a child was born. The new mom would receive an afternoon tea at her home with female friends and family. They’d bring gifts like handmade clothes, lace bonnets, and silver items.

Across Christian traditions, a woman’s recovery from childbirth was celebrated four to six weeks postpartum in a “Churching of Women,” which appears in the Book of Common Prayer. It was held to express gratitude for a mother’s safe delivery and the healthy state of her newborn, since childbirth had often been perilous. In France, the churching was followed by a home celebration known as the Fête des Relevailles, the “rising up” feast.

When a baby’s first tooth appears, Armenian families traditionally prepare a dish called Agra Hadig, or Atam Hatik. The recipe includes boiling wheat berries with cinnamon and walnuts and serving it as a sweet, which is then spread across a cloth that is held up over the baby’s head to bless them with good health and fortune. Additionally, a book, money, scissors, or a doctor’s stethoscope is placed in front of the child, and the item the child takes is believed to indicate their future occupation.

Oshichiya, or “Seventh Night,” has its roots in Japan’s Heian period, which lasted from 794 to 1185, when parents named their newborns on their seventh night of life. Traditionally, the father or grandfather would write out the name in black ink on a piece of ceremonial paper known as a meimeisho, which was later displayed at the family’s shrine or hung on the wall. At the ceremony, guests ate red rice (sekihan).

During the 18th and 19th centuries, husbands presented new mothers with gold rings featuring the baby’s birthstone or engraved with birth initials. Godparents and grandparents presented engraved sterling silver porringers, shallow feeding bowls, and baby cups because they were durable and valuable assets of the family, not because there was any notion that silver had antibacterial properties. Nobody knew that until germ theory arrived in the late 19th century.

This content was created with the help of AI.