Superstitions with pregnant women are many and they vary depending on the country of origin, so that each country has found its own traditions and customs regarding pregnancy. Childbirth is one of the most beautiful moments that a woman can pass through and, genetically, assures the longevity of the genes passed from parents further on. Around pregnant women there are found all kinds of superstitions, more or less funny or strange: some would have to announce the baby’s gender, others are related to personality and his defining characteristics.
In all countries of the world there are superstitions with future moms, some weird and unusual, in which some believe and others doubt. One of the strangest superstition comes from the Hebrew people who say that a pregnant woman should never attend funerals. It is said that the spirits of the dead could dwell in the cemetery, so that the unborn baby might be in danger. Among the signs of bad luck in the Hebrew culture there is the act of buying gifts for children not yet born.
There are a manifold of superstitions related to the food, too. In Romania it is said that if a pregnant woman steals fruit and vegetables and eat them or she will covet them, there’s a chance that the child will have a sign that will reflect the fruit when he will be born. A similar superstition comes from Amerindians.
Since ancient times, they believed that if a woman bearing a child in her womb eats berries, the future baby will have birth signs on the body. In addition, salmon seems to be one of the superstitious food for pregnant women. Pregnant women who eat this type of fish would give birth to children who will have problems with ankles throughout their life. An unusual superstition says that if the women eats gull meat, she will bring into this world a very whiny child.
Even animals have positive and negative effects on children in the womb. A look or action against animals can damage completely the baby’s life. Tradition says that in Turkey, women are not allowed to stare at animals. If they do this, the children that they bear in the womb will borrow from the characteristics of animals. Also in Malaysia there is a superstition related to animals, according to which pregnant women should not kill any creature because their children will be born with the traits of the killed animals.
Asia is also not lacking in strange superstitions concerning pregnant women. One of them comes from China, where pregnant women are urged to keep a knife under the bed where they sleep, to protect their children fromevil spirits. It is an old saying: if the mother’s belly is rubbed frequently while the baby is inside, that child will be very spoiled.
Besides food and animal superstitions that are related to unborn children, the superstitions with pregnant woman in connection with the numbers could not miss from the picture. It is said that in Hindu tradition, the number 8 brings bad luck to the child, while numbers 7 and 9 are lucky for him. Therefore, the pregnant mother is celebrated only in the seventh and ninth month of pregnancy.
In U.S. there are all kinds of superstitions more or less strange and funny. One says that during the parties that are organized for the children in the womb of the mother and where there gifts for children are given, one can find the gender of the baby, if it is not known beforehand by the ultrasound.
The future mother must take a ring and tie it from a rope, leaving it in the air above her belly. The superstition says that if the ring rotates, the unborn child will be born a girl, and if the ring will swing from left to right, the child that will be born a boy.
Poles have also superstitions with pregnant women. Their tradition says that those women who will pass under ladders will give birth to short children.
In the Romanian culture there can be found many such superstitions. They say pregnant women should not steal, touch animals or look at ugly people or objects. The cravings of the mothers are important, and they must be fulfilled, otherwise, the child that is born will bear the sign of his mother’s lust. Pregnant women who do not spread the news of their good fortune will bring into the world children not quite talkative or who don’t start to speak until later, so that’s why the news announced soon makes the baby in the womb be born talkative and sociable.
Among the most popular superstitions regarding pregnant women is the one according to which the shape of the belly betrays the gender of the baby. If the form is cone-shaped, then the child would be a boy and if the belly is more flat, the result will be a girl. Pregnant women can put salt in their head and if they touch their nose first they will have a boy and if they move their hand to the mouth, they will have a girl.
It seems that the reaction of salt would have an effect on the child’s gender. Also the brown line that appears on the belly of the mom during clues about the baby’s gender. The superstition says that if the line continues from the belly upwards, inside there is a boy, and if the line is from the navel downwards, the child will be born a daughter.
Superstitions with pregnant women are countless, but they are not proven scientifically to have any real result. However, many pregnant women begin to learn about all sorts of traditions and customs and are afraid that if they would not meet them, something bad might happen to the baby found in their womb. Cultures of the world influence each other, thing proved by the similarities found between all superstitions worldwide. It seems that these habits are transmitted and invade new spaces much faster than religion and ethics do.