Superstitions surrounding babies or infants

Superstitions surrounding Babies or Infants.

As I’ve said previously within Irish folklore there is a great deal written about superstition. It begins at or even before birth and carries on through all aspects of this life and beyond. From the cradle to the grave so to speak. This week I thought I would tell you of a few of the superstitions that surround a baby or young child and some of these are still with us today in one form or another.

A son born after his father’s death is said to have the power to cure fever.

It was believed that the clippings of the hair and nails of a child, tied up in linen and placed under the bed will cure convulsions. I hope you realise it’s the hair and nail clippings you tie up and put under the bed and not the child.

Although it has to be said that under no circumstances could a baby’s nails be cut until after the first birthday since if the nails were cut the child would grow up to be a thief.  Instead the nails were bitten off by the parent and placed in the bottom of the cradle.

As said previously babies born with a Caul were blessed with a great talent or gift. The Caul was valued by seafarers above all other things as they believed it had the power to prevent death by drowning.

Stories surrounding the new born frequently concerned faeries or the evil eye. A piece of silver was placed in the cradle to preserve the baby from the evil eye and salt was rubbed on its forehead. Neighbours and friends on first seeing the baby would place a silver coin in its hand or shawl (still common practice today).

There were precautions taken even before birth to preserve the mother and baby and keep them free from harm and safe from the evil eye. Should the unfortunate woman meet a hare then her baby would surely be born with a hare lip, of course this could be prevented simply by turning up her skirt and putting a tear in her petticoat. Men who hunted the hare always cut the tale immediately after killing it for fear of the damage it could do if they met an expectant mother whilst they were carrying it home.

When a woman first takes ill in her confinement, unlock instantly every press and drawer in the house, once the child is born lock them all up again at once.  It was believed that if care wasn’t taken then the faeries would get in and hide in the drawers and presses, to be ready to steal away the new baby when they got the opportunity and place some ugly wizened changeling in its place. Every key should be turned, every lock made fast, and if the faeries are hidden inside then let them stay there until all danger is over for the baby by all the proper precautions being taken. You should place a red coal under the cradle and a branch of mountain ash tied over it or a branch of alder depending on the sex of the baby. It was believed that the first man was created from an alder tree and the first woman from the mountain ash.

Unbaptised children are readily seized by the fairies. Ways to prevent this include, a cloth exposed on the eve of St Brigid’s feast day was lucky and used on the mother and child.  Oatmeal was given to the mother and baby when the baby had been born. A piece of iron or a cinder concealed in the baby’s dress. A set of Iron tongs placed across the cradle. The best preventative was believed to be a little salt tied up in the child’s dress when it is laid to sleep in the cradle.

The fairies, however, are sometimes successful in carrying off the baby and the mother finds in the morning a poor weakly little thing in the cradle in place of her own beautiful child. However, if the baby the faeries have stolen grows up to be an ugly child then they will send it back to you.  Bit unfair really.

If a child seems to be pining away it was thought that they had been fairy struck and the juice of twelve leaves of Foxglove may be given, this was said to also aid in the relief of a fever but I wouldn’t try this at home folks.

When a seventh son is born put an earth worm into its hand, tie a piece of linen around the hand and keep it tied until the worm dies. It was said that this will give the child power to charm away all diseases. Although how you’re supposed to know when the worm has died if it’s all tied up is beyond me. May be by the smell.

The same thing worked if the worm was put into the hand of a baby and kept there until it was baptised. The baby not the worm.

You should also sew a piece of iron into a baby’s clothes until after it has been baptised. This was to ensure protection from the fairies as they fear iron.

If a baby was born in the house it was believed to be unlucky if you gave away a coal from the fire before the baby was baptised.

People born in the morning cannot see spirits or the fairy world. However, those born at night have a power over ghosts and can see the spirits of the dead.

Conception could be prevented if an enemy tied a knot in a handkerchief at the time of marriage. No child could be born to that couple until the knot was undone.  Once again folks don’t depend on this bit of advice.

It was also said to be bad luck for a pregnant woman to attend a funeral in case her baby would be born dead or deformed. It was believed that a condition known as Clubfoot was caused by the mother slipping or stumbling in the graveyard and there is a story told about one lady who was foolish enough to go to a funeral when she was heavily pregnant, she leaned against a headstone and when her baby was born it had a birthmark in the shape of a headstone on its back.  The teller of this story swore it to be true “By the help of god”.  Pregnant women were even told not to remain in a house while a corpse was being placed in the coffin, nor act as a sponsor to a bride.

May Day was said to be the luckiest day on which to give birth but Whitsun was thought to be the most unlucky day of all.  A child born at Whitsun will have an evil temper and may grow up to be a murderer. However, in order to turn away bad luck from a child born at that time a grave must be dug and the baby laid in it for a few minutes. After this the evil spell is broken and the baby will be safe.  Well there’s not a hope of that happening these days, the mother would split you in six if you tried anything like that.

Babies sometimes take their time in coming and before we had the modern medical treatments available today a full bottle of castor oil was given to the fasting mother and this usually brought on the birth. Another method was to immerse the expectant mother in a hot bath. It was also believed that if you wished to predict the baby’s sex you stuck a needle into a piece of cork threaded the needle then swung it like a pendulum over the stomach of the expectant mother. If it swung right to left it meant a boy, if it went in a circle then a girl was on her way.

Finally, the coming of a baby into a family was and is a great and happy event. The time of birth is important, babies usually come with the phase of the moon and if a baby was overdue then the old people would be out watching the moon to see how close to the full moon or new moon it was.

If you know of any superstitions regarding babies or infants then post them on my facebook page or on my blog at www.wrfm.ie and go to The Storyteller.