I was watching a program on T.V. about the culture of a foreign country, I can’t remember which country though. It was somewhere in Malaysia or Cambodia I think. Anyway, what caught my attention was when a woman said they call their babies “ugly”. It brought back memories of something my grand mother told me a while back.

She said the older people would look at a baby and say, “that baby is ugly” with a disgusted look on their face. I couldn’t believe people back then were so cruel. I was stunned and wondered what I’d do if anyone said my babies were ugly. Then she smiled and explained. “They believed the gods would take offense if they heard there was a beautiful baby so people would never claim their child to be beautiful so as not to offend the gods. They feared the gods would become jealous and strike down the child so people back then didn’t get offended, they were thankful.

Of course that memory prompted even more. When I was pregnant with my oldest child, I lived with my grandma. During the early months of my pregnancy, I wore a chain around my neck, when grandma seen it, she made me remove it. She said the chain (necklace, lei - anything that circled the neck) symbolized the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck. Sure enough, when I gave birth, the cord was wrapped around my son’s neck. Fortunately, my obstetrician was seasoned enough to unwrap it before it choked him. Some might argue that there’s a number of explanations, I’m sure there are but for me, my grandma’s words are a good as gold.

My mother, on the other hand, had some weird beliefs. When we lived in Maryland, I was pregnant with my second child and she used to send us care packages. Then she’d call to see if we got it and to tell me that she wanted to add some portugese sausage for hubby but she didn’t want me to eat it because the peppers in the sausage will somewho blind the unborn baby. I laughed and told her to tell that to all the Mexicans who live on chili peppers. Not all of them are blind. Well, I can’t say she hasn’t given me any motherly advice. ~L~