On Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories live radio last Friday, guest speaker Genesis (Top 3 Finalists for Be A Podcaster) talked about her relatives’ pregnancy. This story triggered me to ask my mum about pregnancy taboos when she was young. These pregnancy taboos are mainly old wives’ tales. You can decide whether to believe them or not, it’s your choice! The references are just for entertainment purposes.
No Slaughtering Animals
You can hear this podcast of Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories from the 5th of January 2024 either on Me Listen, Spotify or Google Podcast. Long story short, Genesis mentioned that her expectant relative killed a bat that had flown into their house. This happened 40-plus years ago when they stayed in the Kampung area. Her mother asked her to kill the bat so that she could cook bat soup for her. She only managed to break the bat’s wings. She then hung the bat on a pole to die, before cooking it. A few months later she gave birth to a baby girl. Her daughter was born with a lot of black hairs on her body, pointy ears and long slit eyes. The baby did not survive for too long before passing away. Another listener (same podcast) also shared that an expectant Chinese lady killed a cat and later her Chinese daughter was born with blue eyes. The moral of the story is to avoid slaughtering animals as this may lead to undesirable consequences, especially during pregnancy.
Avoid Going Out at Night
Before Singapore became a busy city, many people used to live in villages. We often called it Kampung. In the Kampung area, there were no street lights, high-rise buildings, tarmac roads and even taps etc. Many people had to go to their nearest well to get water and travel a distance from their homes to the main bus stop. Their house was often surrounded by trees or plantation-like banana plants. They believed that Pontianak (vengeful female spirit) resided in the banana plant during the day. Pontianak likes to hunt for expectant women for their unborn babies at night time. Hence expectant women should always go home before dusk. All windows should be closed and pregnancy clothing should be brought in. Some say expectant women should carry scissors for protection. The Pontianak story was also shared on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories by Freddie. I will share the link when I find it.
Do Not Attend Funeral
A funeral is often considered as Yin. Expectant women should not attend the funeral as it will clash with the soul of the unborn baby who is also ‘Yin’. They believe in the balance of Yin and Yang. They should attend ‘Yang’ activities, like celebrating birthdays instead.
My sister was in her second-term pregnancy when our grandmother passed away. She was not allowed to attend at all.
Do Not Move The Marital Bed or Move House
They often believe that the marital bed is where the soul of the baby is made. If the bed is moved, it will also disturb the soul of the baby.
It happened to my grandmother. She was eight months pregnant (her 5th pregnancy) and she moved her bed. She lost her baby (my uncle) on that night. Rather than saying the soul of the baby was disturbed, in fact, many studies have shown that lifting heavy things can increase the risk of miscarriage and preterm birth. Hence it is not advised to lift heavy things.
Moving house is the same. Lifting heavy things is not advised. According to my mum, she said if they needed to move house, let others deal with the moving and unpacking. Only when the new house is unpacked should the expectant woman return home.
Do Not Hammer Nails
Hammering nails will lead to the child being born with a lot of holes in their body, birthmarks, disfiguration or even death. I cannot confirm this with my mum, but hammering a nail is like putting nails in a coffin. Hence it is not encouraged to do so.
Abstain Certain Food
They believe pineapple, cucumber and grass jelly are considered ‘cooling’/cold food and consuming them will lead to miscarriage. Eating crab will result in the birth of a mischievous baby. Also avoid mutton, rabbit or snake.
Do Not Announce During First Term Of The Pregnancy
This is a very common thing to avoid, even for Western people as it is quite common to miscarriage during this period.
Do Not Go To The Zoo
They believe if you look at the animals for too long, your baby will also look like one too, especially a monkey. I still remember my mum told me to look at beautiful babies only, so we would get pretty babies and not ugly ones. I was also asked to hang a lot of cute baby photos at my house. I did not listen! I mostly hung our family photos and dog photos!
So for your culture, do you have a list of things that you are not supposed to do? If so, please do share it with me in the comments below.