Bizarre Baby Rituals

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

filed under: family

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. People will try to child proof everything to make sure their kids are safe. 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: family

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our doc gave us the option for the circ and was not leaning toward either option, but after i made the decision and he finished the circ, is when he told us that it ended up being a good thing, as he would have had to have one when he was older and it would have been necessary and painful. my son would have had an infection had he not been cut. something to do with the way everything was growing down there would have made it very painful for him.

- naomi

Posted 06/05/09 07:15 PM

I know we are straying from the article but if circumcision was really that beneficial wouldn’t it be a standard practice at birth for all males like the vitamin k injection all babies get here in Australia within minutes of being born.

- Sarah

Posted 06/07/09 03:25 AM

Good evening. I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. I am from India and learning to speak English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: “Already, if a network is therefore recurring the use, island problems will be raised and the order day requires therefore take.” Thank you very much :-). Sandy.

- Sandy

Posted 09/04/09 07:48 PM

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