Some Stupidstitions

With any culture, there are things that are taboo or revered, avoided or maintained through customs, stories and traditions. And when one culture looks at anothers' superstitions and ways of doing things, it is easy to scoff or roll your eyes and say they are stupid.

However, each of the superstitions and traditions came from somewhere or someone's logic and persisted since most people do not like to change. Even in the states, we have a load of superstitions that many other people would find silly, strange or stupid (just think of all the things we do to prep for each holiday - Xmas to name a biggie and those are based on stories and superstitions...)

So with that said we can take the next with a grain of salt (or a gallon...).

In Asia, whose strength comes from its past and roots in traditions and stories, there are tons of Stupidstitions....no, I mean superstitions. Too many for a foreigner like me (however long I have been here - I am still on the outside) to know.

So when it comes to holidays here, there are many things that people do (not necessarily us), and when it comes to important days like weddings, deaths, and births, there are so many things to DO and NOT to do the list is staggering.

One of the things that is a common practice here is called "Zuo Yue Zi", which loosely translated means "Sitting for a Month." This is done after a mother gives birth and the basic rules are:

1) She has to stay in bed as much and as long as possible without moving (within reason) for a month after birth.

2) She has to eat a specially prepared diet for each of the 4-5 weeks after birth, mainly consisting of duck, goose and fish steeped in Chinese Medicine.

3) She can not touch cold water - at all, and she is recommended to not touch water at all during the whole month (she drinks the soup from the dishes for water).

4) With #3, she can not get her body wet, thus a shower or bath is out of the question for the month.

5) Also, since reading, watching tv and looking at the computer are stress related, any of those are out of the question for the month.

6) Each day, starting at 8:00 am and going to 10pm, for every 2 hours on the hour, she has to yell at her husband for 30 minutes, saying that he is not doing enough and should stop complaining at her complaining.

Ok, that last one is optional, but most women do that here anyway.


So, with the stress of childbirth finally gone and the REAL stress comes, there is a whole regiment of (stupidity) that most Taiwanese - if not Asian - women need to deal with right after birth.

To this end, Jo's hardest part will be the not showering for a month, since she is Ms. Clean. I don't say Mrs. Clean, since that would imply that her husband is clean as well and - well....that is not accurate.

So we are gearing up for the baby and the crap that we will have to deal with: both from the baby himself and from the culture here. Now, I am sure there is precedent and reason why these things worked in ages past, since Taiwan is a very humid place. Plus, there are many modern women who not only accept these practices, but swear by them as well, saying that while they sound weird and are difficult, do indeed help the woman's body recover much faster. So, Jo (and her poor husband) will try our best to follow these stupidstitions....damn! I mean traditions....

Here are some of the things that we have prepared for the ordeal....



This is only a fraction of the Chinese Medicine (Herbal Medicine) that we are going to be using. Peter, our live-in tenant is going to be Jo's personal cook for the important month of her "Zuo Yue Zi." His family almost entirely are cooks and he has learned from an early age. Usually the mother does this, but this arrangement makes it much better for all of us...




Those two big casks are full of pure grain alcohol. No, not for drinking, but for cooking. Instead of water, Peter will be using alcohol to cook, which will be infused with all the herbs (and meat) in the previous pictures.




And alas, those are not beer bottles (as much as I will need them myself), but are specially made 'rice wine water' especially for "Zuo Yue Zi." Worse comes to worse I may down some if the stench gets too strong or I am sick of eating Jo's leftovers.

But, that is all part of living in another country - and hell, not only living, but living with another person who cares about these traditions. She has to deal with our silly xmas traditions and perhaps even Halloween ones, so I can deal with some as well.