Supersitions After Birth of Newborn Baby

In Vietnamese customs, there are a lot of superstitions related to the newborn baby after birth. These are some most common of them: the praise should not be given to the newborn baby; the pillow of the baby should have seven chunks of mulberry with a needle; and there is a one month celebration for the newborn baby on his 30th day.

Why a Newborn Baby is not Given a Name

There are many reasons why Vietnamese do not name their newborn babies when they were born. The reasons are belief, olden government policy in the old society and family customs.

Normally, a Vietnamese has many names from birth to death. When a baby is born, it is called as “thằng Cu”, “thằng Cò”, “con Hĩm”, “thằng Mực”, ”con Cún”, “thang Chắt em”, “con Chắt ả”… These are general names to call a newborn baby. “thằng” is for male and “con” is for female. 

Vietnamese Adopted Child

In Vietnam, there are three main kinds of adopted child: formal adopted child, symbolic adopted child and pretended adopted child.
 

Formal adopted child

First-Born Baby Custom

Normally in Vietnam especially in the countryside regions, three generations live under the same roof. Based on Confucianism telnet, when a girl gets marriage she has to follow her husband and live in her husband family. It has some difficulties for the wife when she is pregnant and has baby at the first time. The first-born baby custom means the wife come back to her family to have the first-born baby, and from the second child she stays at her husband’s family.

Recording Name on Family Annals Custom

According to the old custom, after checking the family annals, avoiding the profanation of taboo names (name of a child is same as the name of ancestors); the newborn child is officially given a name. In case of the name of the child is similar the name of ancestors, it has to be changed.

Match Makers in the Past

In the past, the weddings of  Kinh people - Vietnam's ethnic majority - were arranged by matchmakers. Before marriage, the betrothed were not allowed to touch each other. If the young woman wished to offer her suitor a quid of betel, she placed the quid on a tray. Feudal ethics forbade any direct expression of love.

Vietnamese and Western Wedding Ceremonies

All over the world, wedding are governed by an endless list of customs and superstitions. Elka Ray examines some of the intriguing tradition associated with Western and Vietnamese nuptials.

Most Vietnamese wedding takes place in the autumn and winter, when the weather is cooler and farmers have less fieldwork. Europeans, meanwhile, tend to marry in the summer. What most Westerners fail to realize is that ancient superstitions influence their wedding dates.