Chinese Birthday Customs

The birth of a child is considered the luckiest event of them all, but even more special if it is a boy. The family will hold a banquet one month after the birth of the child.

When the child is born, the baby automatically is 1 year old, which is unlike the Western birth calendar. Another difference is that New Years is considered to be everyone's birthday. A little bit confusing? Let me give you an example.

Let's say, I'm born in the month of December on the 11th, meaning I'm already 1 year old on December 11. However, when New Years comes, which is in February of the next year, I will be 2. However, if I'm living in the West, the administration will only consider me to be 3 months old.

With that being said, if you look back on the Olympics in China, in theory, the gymnastic women are not under age. It is just that the age counting system is different. To other countries in the world, they may be considered too young, but in China they are the right age to qualify.

To me, this is just another example of culture misunderstanding. Hehehe. Please, don't sue me.

chinese

The traditional food for a birthday is a hardboiled egg with its shell dyed red. There are a couple of customs for the mom and the baby after birth. First, the mom will not wash her hair for a month because it will weaken her if she does so.

Second, the baby will be wrapped in white cloth and especially around the legs. The Chinese people believe that if they do that the baby's legs will be straight when it gets older. However, this can also backfire as well; for example, if the cloth is wrapped incorrectly then the legs of baby could be bent.

If the family does not wrap the legs with cloth then the baby's mother will help by pressing gently on the leg each day. And this technique can also backfire, as you can figure.

Thank you for reading, hopefully you enjoyed it. From where I am, good luck and good night, everybody.

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Raphita Tobing