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Dawu's custom of bearing children

Birth customs are some etiquette customs from the birth of a child to the full moon. There are mainly good news, three dynasties, birth names, gifts, full moon gifts, full moon meals and so on. These fertility customs are still very popular in rural areas.

Good news: After the child is born, the father will bring red eggs, cakes and other gifts to the children's grandparents' home to report the good news. In the past, boys were called "reading" or "herding cattle" and girls were called "embroidering". If a boy is born, a book or a pen should be put in the gift. If the baby is a girl, put a flower or a bunch of colorful silk threads in the gift. In this way, grandparents can know whether the baby is male or female at a glance, avoiding the embarrassment of asking directly.

Three Dynasties: On the third day after a child is born, grandparents are invited to dinner, which is called the "Three Dynasties Banquet". Its purpose is to agree on the time to invite three relatives and six relatives to the wedding banquet. On this day, the goddess is also sacrificed, and the child's body is wiped with wormwood and plantain decoction, which is called "washing three", which means eliminating disasters and avoiding evil spirits.

Birth name: After the Three Dynasties, grandparents should ask fortune tellers to look up the five elements according to their children's birthdates, and then name them according to their children's birthdates. If the child is short of five elements, what should be added to the baby's name; If the five elements are complete, use rich or fashionable words as birth names. It used to be a rule for grandparents to name their children, but now it is almost no longer the case.

Gifts: According to the time agreed in the Three Dynasties, relatives and friends of both sides came to congratulate with gifts, which is called "gifts" or "meals". Gifts are generally rice, wheat, fried dough sticks, prickly heat, brown sugar, pig's trotters, hens, eggs and clothes. In addition to the above gifts, grandpa's family will also send rocking nests (now cribs), wooden cangue chairs (now strollers), quilts, cotton-padded clothes, sweet rice wine and so on. Except for the ancestral home, other guests can only receive about half of the gifts.

Full Moon Ceremony: When a child has a full moon, grandparents will hold a "full moon ceremony" for the child. There are still some delicious gifts. On this day, the barber was invited to the house to shave the baby's full moon head, which is called "shaving the fetal head". In addition to paying for haircuts, parents will also give gifts such as soap and towels, and invite barbers to hold banquets or make soup.

Eat a full moon meal: three days after the child's full moon, his mother will go back to her mother's house for a meal. This is called eating a full moon meal. Before eating a full moon meal, their mother and son were called "moon mother and son" and "moon mother and son", so they could not visit others' homes; After a full moon meal, you won't have any taboos like ordinary people.