Sesame is here! A lovely bunch of bloggers have jumped in to help me out at this time so I don't have to worry about a newborn, a toddler AND blogging. Today, Ai Sakura is sharing a birth custom in her Chinese culture.
First of all, big congratulations to Ames! Yay we finally get to see Sesame!! *squeals* Such a delight and this certainly brings back happy memories of when my little girl was born. In view of this celebration of life, I would like to share how births of newborns are celebrated in Chinese culture. My husband’s family is rather traditional {and I don’t mean old-fashioned!} so we celebrate a lot of Chinese festivities the old way.
In Chinese traditions, a party {满月酒, manyuejiu} will be thrown in honour of the child after the child’s first full month {满月, manyue) to celebrate with family and friends. In the past, it was to celebrate a child’s survival when infant mortality rate was high, but nowadays, it is just a happy occasion of introducing the child to family and friends, and to mark the end of confinement for the mother.
The party can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Some Chinese families book a few tables at the restaurant and invite colleagues, business associates, family, friends etc. while others just have it at home with family. For our girl’s Manyue celebration, we booked a small hall to share the joyous occasion with close family and friends. I did not want a grand party as that was during the H1NI period and I was scared our girl would get infected. Yes, I was {still am??} a rather paranoid mama! :P
Gifts {such as the one shown above} are given away to family and friends. Content vary, but at the very least, should contain red eggs. The red eggs symbolize good luck and harmony. In return, guests will usually give gold jewelry, red packets of money {红包, hongbao} or other items and toys. Gift registries are not common in Asia, so if you are not sure what to bring, just bring a red packet! It is always welcome at Chinese celebrations, be it for Manyue celebration or weddings!
Living in multicultural Singapore, we see births celebrated in many different ways but all are so special.
How are births celebrated in your culture?
Ai Sakura lives in Singapore with her toddler daughter and hubby. She is a photography, travel, food and fashion lover but Hello Kitty is her true obsession. She blogs over at Sakura Haruka and can be found on Facebook, twitter and Instagram.
SO sweet! Your blog is just lovely; I'm a new follower! ♥
ReplyDeleteAnne
I love this, what a beautiful way for extended family and friends to see the family and bubba after the birth.
ReplyDeleteOh this was really interesting! Such a different idea to party a month after the baby is born.
ReplyDeleteAi were you confined to home for a month after Pumpkins birthday? I know a lot of the Chinese families in Darwin observe that tradition.
I had a confinement of sort but I did not follow a lot of the traditions like not bathing for the full confinement or eating special confinement food everyday. some Chinese families engage trained confinement nannies for the month but I just had my mum with me and found that she helped and took care of me more than enough :)
ReplyDeleteAi @ Sakura Haruka
I know of the confinement tradition but I never followed it. I guess I'm not that traditional. We did celebrate my girls' first months with a family dinner but it was a small affair since my family live interstate. I do have to say that your cake gifts look scrumptious! We did the red eggs which were not red enough first time so we made sure they were for Lil S!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Ai, for guest posting. I just love this tradition!
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