[left][pre][b]X Incredible Baby Customs That Make You Wish You Were Never Born[/b]

[b]1.

Kotobuki Bako: Japanese Umbilical Cord Box[/b]

In Japan, there is a ritual wherein the umbilical cord attached to the infant is not cut-off immediately after birth then thrown away, rather, it is left on the child to dry then fall off on its own, after which, it is put into a display box called the Kotobuki Bako for everyone to behold and see. It acts as a Lucky Charm in Japanese culture serving to cultivate and enhance the relationship between the Mother and Child. Also, I read from other sources (experience blogs) that nurses present the cord to the mother with the advice of keeping the same to prove that the child is indeed yours.

[quote]HESONO O: This is a ritual involving the baby's umbilical cord. When the baby's cord dries and falls off, it was put inside a special wooden box and kept indefinitely. This signified a well wish for the mother-child relationship in the future.[/quote]

[url]http://www.hawcc.hawaii.edu/nursing/RNJapanese03.html[/url]

[quote]Kotobuki Bako: Umbilical Cord Box As a good fortune charm for the relationship of the mother and child as the child grows, people who engage in traditional Japanese practices save the baby's umbilical cord. In a ceremony called "hesonoo," the mother wraps the umbilical cord and places it in a small keepsake box, the "kotobuki bako."[/quote]

[url]http://www.ehow.com/info_8602460_traditions-japanese-children-born.html[/url]

[img]http://muza-chan.net/aj/poze-weblog/suiten-gu-shrine-04.jpg[/img]

The Kotobuki Bako is designed as a cradle inside which there is a small doll representing a sleeping baby, wearing a kimono. The kimono can be unfolded and the umbilical cord can be placed inside.

[url]http://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/kotobuki-bako[/url]

[b]2.

Lotus Birth [/b]

If you think the concept of keeping the Umbilical cord was hard enough to stomach, how about keeping the entire placenta after birth? A Lotus Birth or the Umbilical Nonseverance method is one wherein the baby along with the umbilical cord, still connected to the placenta, is delivered from the mother and kept attached to the baby days after the delivery itself. It is said so that severing the placenta with the cord deprives the infant of much needed Cord Blood which gives him/her extra nutrition after being thrust into the external world.

[quote]The practice of neonatal umbilical intactness - nonseverance of the umbilical cord - and absence of any potential portal of navel infection. The birth practice of the early American pioneers who produced some of the hardiest children known in American history... and valued everything they had. Also called "Umbilical Nonseverance." The baby, cord, and placenta are treated as one unit, as they are all originate from the same cellular source (egg and sperm). [/quote]

[quote]The baby is born and remains attached to its cord while the placenta is birthed. The baby's placenta-cord is kept in-situ with the baby, gently wrapped in cloth or kept in an uncovered bowl near the mother, and the cord is sometimes wrapped in silk ribbon up to the baby's belly. The cord quickly dries and shrinks in diameter, similar to sinew, and detaches often by the 3rd Postpartum day (but up to a week in certain humid indoor air conditions) leaving a perfect navel. [/quote] [url] http://www.lotusfertility.com/Lotus_Birth_Q/Lotus_Birth_QA.html[/url]

First-Hand Experience Source

[quote]Lotus birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut, so that the baby remains attached to his/her placenta until the cord naturally separates at the umbilicus, exactly as a cut cord does, at three to ten days after birth. This prolonged contact can be seen as a time of transition, allowing the baby to slowly and gently let go of their attachment to the mothers body.[/quote]

[url]http://www.sarahbuckley.com/lotus-birth-a-ritual-for-our-times/[/url]

[b]3.

El Colacho Baby Leaping Festival[/b]

[i]Ive seen this entry before here on Cracked, but I still included it anyway since my Premise is far different from the one which is uploaded. In any case, I dont really know what the MO is regarding stuff like this so Im open to any suggestion or instruction :)[/i]

Despite the awesome title conjuring up images of babies leaping in the air with the greatest of ease and delight on their cute little faces, the reality is much more shocking and incredible. The festival involves babies being laid down in mattresses along the road while men, all dressed up in costumes representing the devil, leap over the babies in the belief that jumping over the babies robs the babies of the bad luck from their systems.

[quote]All children born since the previous year's festival are laid out on mattresses on a street leading away from the church. The figures dressed as el Colacho then run out of the church and down the street, leaping over the mattresses. They represent all the concentrated evil of Castrillio de Murcia, cleansing the babies and making a hasty diabolical getaway.[/quote]

[url]http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/leaping-lucifers-the-spanish-baby-jumping-festival-a575011.html[/url]

Existing Cracked Holding Same Entry

[url]http://www.cracked.com/article_19839_5-giant-city-wide-parties-you-wonE28099t-believe-arereal.html[/url]

[b]4.

Indian Baby Tossing[/b]

In India, there is custom by which babies are thrown off 30 feet from temple balconies unto stretched out bed sheets held by onlookers from below. Again the aim is to give the babies good fortune, health and prosperity. The practice was banned for a while, but it seems as though tradition has once again won over regulation and continues to this day despite severe criticism from baby rights groups.

[quote]In a ritual that would terrify most mothers, Indian villagers have cheered as screaming babies were dropped from a 50-foot temple tower. For 500 years, worshippers at a Muslim shrine in western India have continued the tradition -- a rite considered to bring good health and good luck to the children.[/quote]

[url]http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/babies.tower/#cnnSTCText[/url]

[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126845/Baby-tossing-ritual-Karnataka-India-Priests-hurlchildren-30ft-good-luck.html[/url]

[b]5.

Children Baptized in Freezing Waters[/b]

In Russia, there is a recent trend of reviving the old tradition of baptising ones own child in freezing waters. It takes place in the Siberian City of Irkutsk (Spell-Check is of little help here) during the Russian Orthodox festival of Epiphany, commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ. The Baptism not only includes children who can decide for themselves whether they opt to or back out of the baptism, some parents insist on having newborns participate. This has drawn much flak from the Russian Medical Community who point out the hazardous health, and sometimes fatal risks that come with the ritual.

[quote]Some take their children with them, dipping newborns and older ones alike... ...But Irina Yefremova, a paediatrician from a Moscow Sports Medicine Centre, warns that plunging a child into an ice hole even for a few seconds could lead to all sorts of problems - from the common cold to loss of consciousness.

The heart could simply stop beating, she says.

Newborns, in particular, she explains, have an underdeveloped thermoregulation system. "Such a great temperature change is a huge shock for the body - one minute the child is dressed, the next he or she is in icy water. It is very stressful for the system, especially for the heart."[/quote]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12806831[/url]

[b]6.

Dipping Baby in Boiling Water[/b]

Back in India, there is a recent ritual of dipping new-borns in boiling water which has gained ground among the rural populace. The story goes that a few years ago a couple, frustrated at their inability to conceive a child, approached a holy man to help them solve their fertility conundrum. Upon instruction of the holy man, supposedly speaking on behalf of the Almighty, the couple, upon receiving their first child were to dip him into boiling water as a show of faith. The ritual was indeed conducted, however, thankfully the infant survived the ordeal.

Several theories have been forwarded as to the plausibility of these supposed miracles of survival, the truth has yet to be verified. The fear is that, even if the original ritual was a hoax, copy-cats who believe in its veracity might not be so lucky.

[quote]A three-month-old infant was dunked into a vessel full of boiling water and lifted out, in a mysterious religious ritual by a couple at Jumalapur village in Bijapur district.

The horrifying act drew shocked gasps from the public and media persons gathered, but not as much as a whimper from the baby. She appeared fine.

The parents looked unafraid, and in fact, were happy that they were carrying out the ritual, held during the festival of Balabhim near Talikot town on Friday. [/quote]

[url]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Baby-dipped-into-boiling-water-as-part-ofritual/articleshow/3902454.cms? [/url]

[b]7.

Sifudu Smoked Baby Back Ribs[/b]

This tradition of an African tribe involves holding the baby over a small fire upon which leaves are put over the flame creating a column of smoke. The baby isnt simply held over the fire, it is held over upside down. The intent is to literally shock the baby into a state where it can hardly even cry. The intention is to prepare the baby for the real world and assures that it grows up without fright, nor will it be shy or timid.

[quote]Between the third and fourteenth day, begins the strange ceremony of "SIFUDU" (passing child through smoke), accomplished by picking leaves from the Sifudu tree. The leaves have an exceptionally pungent aroma. A small fire is made in the centre of the hut, upon which leaves are placed, creating a thin pall of smoke, most irritating to mouth, nostrils and eyes. A woman holds baby head downwards into the smoke, which gives it such a shock it can hardly cry, after turning baby around several time in the smoke it is handed back to its seated mother who swiftly passes the child under one of her legs, then under the other. All this, plus the smoke shock, assures beyond doubt, they say, that when the child grows up it will never be subject to fright, nor be timid, shy or easily ridiculed by minor or adult, as it will stand it's ground.[/quote] [url]http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Lister%20Hunter%20Photo%20Set%20F%20%20Birth.htm[/url]

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[b]Draft Entry

Indian Baby Tossing[/b]

So in this complex and difficult world Parents would want nothing but the very best for our very own mini-mes to get the best advantage in this increasingly competitive world. Such methods include selecting the right formula for you infant, having him lost in the beautiful melodies of Mozart, tossing

him over 30 feet off a temple balcony into the arms of strangers, and so and so forth. The methods and possibilities are endless.

Come to India and submit your child to this true test of fortune to determine whether your baby is equipped with the necessary good luck factor to conquer the world (or entire galaxy, with recent advancements in space technology, who knows where our tiny squirts will be imposing their dominance over next). Those expertly trained temple attendants are ready upon request to throw your dearest loved ones upon sheets stretched out by hand-picked onlookers at ground level.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjiQBcOCk7w[/url]

This ritual has been practiced for many centuries and is guaranteed* to increase your childs fortune in life (although we would think being thrown off intentionally from a balcony is a pretty low-baseline, and any sort of luck after that should be guaranteed to be higher here-on in) provided, of course that you he has a life after the ritual.

Yes, it had been halted for humanitarian and political reasons for a while, but fret not dear loving parents, the ritual is still alive and well despite regulation. Old world tradition has once again spit in the face of modern-day concerns and regulations.

So come on down to India, and get your baby down with falling down.

*Guarantee does not include monetary, financial, romantic or related fortunes, however, it does include the fortune of having your child share a hard-to-top bad-ass story of infancy to future chicks.

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