Bizarre Baby Rituals

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Bizarre Baby Rituals RT @momlogic Share:

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

filed under: is this okay?

Parents all over the world want what's best for their children -- they just have different ways of showing it.

It doesn't matter where you live: Paris, Bombay or a tiny, remote island off the coast of Bali. All parents want to keep their kids safe, healthy, and happy. In America, one of the ways we protect our babies is by placing them in special reinforced seats when driving in a car.

In India, they toss them off buildings.

Yes, for the past 500 years in a small Indian village, they've been hurling tiny babies from a 50-foot temple -- caught below in a sheet. All in the name of good luck. Guess their good luck starts the second they hit the tautly held fabric.

In Russia, as a way of insuring hearty children, a ritual at a popular daycare involves pouring freezing water on tots while they run around in their underwear.

And in Spain, every May 25th since 1620, the Baby-Jumping Colacho Festival features men dressed as Satan who jump over rows of infants (like an Olympic hurdler) to keep the devil away from the babes.

In Lithuana, they have something called "baby racing." This year's winner was was Kajus Aukščionis who, unlike most of the tykes who were lured to the finish line by a parent dangling their favorite toy, burst through the finish line to his beloved laptop computer.

Throwing babies, hurdling infants, racing them like little ponies and dousing kids with freezing cold water?! In America, these rituals could only mean one word: Lawsuit. What do you think? Are these people crazy or just crazy about babies?

filed under: is this okay?

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OMG if anyone ever dropped my baby off a building I’d die. Where are the mothers????

- momathome

Posted 05/28/08 04:58 PM

is it really that much crazier than circumcision?

- danielle

Posted 05/28/08 05:16 PM

I’m just glad I don’t live in those places!

- Melanie

Posted 05/29/08 01:48 PM

None of that is as whacky as the USA. Shortly after the male infant is born he is straped naked onto a board, he is restrained, his penis is then stroked to erection then the foreskin is peeled back, crushed and then cut off. Some parents admit to doing it because they like the looks of it. Others some how believe that an open surgical wound in a babies diaper is the path to “better hygyne.

- anon

Posted 05/29/08 10:19 PM

I realize these countries have done these for a LONG time but I could NEVER throw my baby off a building. Even though it doesn’t look as though the babies are harmed, it crushes my heart to see an infant get tossed off a building

- Nicole

Posted 06/05/08 11:38 PM

Yep, just as bizarre as circumcision, except that throwing your kid off of a building hasn’t been linked to dramatically lowering the rate of AIDS and penile cancer. Nor is it practiced by over a quarter of the world’s population like circumcision is.

- JoAnne Gaudynski

Posted 06/16/08 07:03 PM

I don’t think you fully comprehend what goes on during circumcision, it is not an open surgical wound, it’s closed off by a small ring. By the by babies don’t develop nerve endings in that area until later on.

- Lulu

Posted 08/17/08 12:05 AM

I have one son who is circumsized, and two who are not, obviously it was my first I had it done to, I was young and thought it was the thing to do. I am glad the other two didn’t go through that, but to tell you the truth. I was outside the room, and my son didn’t cry at all during the procedure, he only cried when he heard my voice, and he was 12 days old. So yes, he knew he was away from momma, but he wasn’t in any pain. No problems after either. So I guess it is the parents choice either way. Alot of men prefer to be, still in this day and age, so it would be better to have it done in infancy then adulthood, but of course, how are we to know what the child will want when he is older… Debates Debates

- Robin

Posted 08/17/08 12:17 AM

Here is a simple test: If it is part of your body, it belongs to you. If it is not part of your body, IT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO MUTILATE IT! mgmbill.org

- Eric

Posted 10/23/08 05:43 AM

Seriously, how did this go from throwing babies off of roofs to nipping their peewees? If your a baby, then you cannot think for yourself. Thats obvious! You cannot make the right choices of whats right or wrong for you, thats why God made mothers! So they can decide whats right for their children that they carried in their bodies until they’re old enough to decide for yourself. I don’t think any mother decided to get their child circumsized to be mean, I think they did it because thats what they think is best! You can have your opinions about it, but don’t accuse anyone of not taking their childs health and well-being into consideration. If anything, it only makes you sound stupid, and inconsiderate.

- Val

Posted 12/09/08 02:45 PM

OMG! “In Russia… they pore freezing water on tots..” Sounds like in Russian daycare centers there’s a bunch of sadists for teachers! I am from Russia & I went to a daycare where they did it to us. But it was just cool tap water, not something freezing cold with ice cubes in it, & yes, it did work - in our daycare we hardly ever had anyone catch a cold! A lot of times I agree with whatever articles on Momlogic say, but sometimes it looks like they would just post for the sake of posting…

- Just Me

Posted 12/12/08 12:55 PM

As far as circumsicion goes.. My idea is leave everything the way nature intended until the child is old enough to make this decision himself. No?

- Just Me

Posted 12/12/08 12:58 PM

umm… except for that fact that no man young or old is going to want the end of his peter chopped off, even if it does prevent illness. Like when I was birthing my daughter, i never wouldve told the doctor to go ahead and cut me open down there to prevent complications. Our world has evolved people, we’re finding easier and more reliable ways of doing things. If that means going through a little pain now to prevent going through alot of pain later, maybe we ought to just bite the bullet.

- Anonymous

Posted 12/12/08 02:16 PM

Really? We’re equating circumcision with throwing an infant off of a building? Or jumping over them? Really? Circumcision just makes it a bit easier for the boy to clean himself and to prevent infection. But really, they THREW a BABY off of a ROOF!! God forbid one of the babies breaks their neck from the fall. And someone had a good point… Where were the mothers?! I could never watch my child thrown from a building.

- Angie

Posted 12/16/08 05:29 AM

Alot of times the mothers in these countries don’t have a say so. If the fathers says the babies have to be thrown off the building the mothers have to obey that is how their culture operates.

- Anonymous

Posted 12/17/08 10:05 AM

Don’t like it, don’t do it. To some it is a religious decision to others, health. And for those of you who say there are other ways.. well.. DUH. THere are OTHER ways of having babies, but you have c-sections. I don’t. C-sections are dangerous to the infant. You do it anyway. You don’t immunize your kids. Well.. guess what, they didn’t hundreds of years ago either and there are a lot more kids living to see adulthood now because of immunizations. Grow up, research make your own decisions, but stop knocking others in THIS country. I would NEVER throw ice water on my kids or throw them off buildings or have someone jump over them. MY decision. Stop being so stupid and learn about the things you are critisizing others for.

- Mom of 5 circd boys

Posted 12/19/08 03:42 PM

to danielle- you can’t compare circumcision to these rituals- circumcision is done by a professional, usually a doctor, and it prevents a lot of future health risks associated with uncircumcised males

- Kimily Schwartz

Posted 12/20/08 06:32 PM

circumcision used to be a religious practice, now it is also done for health reasons- it prevents health problems and infections down the road. It is always done by a professional, usually a Doctor. do you really think this compares to being thrown off a building? you can’t be that ignorant…

- Kimily Schwartz

Posted 12/20/08 06:37 PM

I think all the WOMEN (they seem to be the only ones who are PRO-circumcision) should ACTUALLY RESEARCH the FACTS before they spout off with sound-bites they heard on Fox News! Anyone ever SEE one performed??? I suggest you look it up before you propagate this false idea of hygienic superiority & how it “looks”. How about how it FEELS? When it is done & later in life! And realize that pretty much EVERYTHING you are saying has been said to defend female circumcision! They say girls can’t feel it (a lie), they say it’s “cleaner” (another lie), they say it’s prettier (a matter of opinion, I guess). Personally, if I were a guy I would be so angry that I was cut & had soooooo MANY nerve endings removed! Girls already have more nerve endings AND erectile tissue than men, so a circumcised man is really operating at at a deficit! Men, learn how to reclaim your sexuality! You CAN have MULTIPLE orgasms just like women! Women, reclaim YOUR sexuality! You have the ability to ejaculate just like men! Except more, and without sperm :P The first known mention of female ejaculation was from a text on child-birth by a mid-wife in the 1300’s! In 2002/3 the international medical community came together to issue a statement that the G-spot existed AND…drum roll please……. it’s a (‘female’)prostate!!!

- ACTUALLY think of the CHILDREN!!!

Posted 12/24/08 08:58 PM

Hey Mom of 5 circd boys, If boys were meant to be cut, they’d be born that way. “Don’t like it, don’t do it?” Where was their decision in the matter? What if they didn’t like it? You still did it anyways. Your logic is flawed. As a medical professional I know that its pure cultural blindness to go about doing such barbaric things our children. It’s unethical to perform unnecessary procedures on individuals who don’t have informed consent. NO EXCEPTIONS.

- Anonymous

Posted 01/23/09 06:19 AM