In traditional Malaysia, a pregnant woman may not kill, tie or mangle anything and any neglect may cause birthmarks or a deformed baby. Neither fire nor water can be carried on her back, and she can’t look at anything ugly or frightening.
While this taboo on ugly and frightening things forbids monkeys, it allows blood and gore on television. Malaysians also believe that a horde of evil spirits lurk in the country’s jungle, air, and water and focuses on pregnant women, so the husband has to plant a pineapple under the house to hamper them with the fruit’s spikes.
Food taboos probably exist in one form or another in every society. Dietary rules and regulations may govern a particular phase of the human life cycle and may be associated with special events such as a menstrual period, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, wedding, funeral.
Meter-Rochow defined food taboo (or prohibition) as a deliberate avoidance of a food item for reasons other than simple dislike from food preferences. Food taboos are commonly practiced during pregnancy in many cultures.
They do not allow certain food or activities during pregnancy to safeguard the unborn child and prevent any negative outcomes to the mother. Passed on from one generation to another, they base most of these taboos on learned behavior, either gained mostly by instruction from parents and family members or observation from close relatives and friends who practices it.
In many cultures, powerful taboos limit the amounts, or kinds, of food a pregnant woman may choose; for example, protein foods are often denied to pregnant women in various parts of Africa and many other populations.
A study in Brazil found that women should not eat game meat and fish at the same time during pregnancy because of the belief that such combinations can kill or cause harm such as congestion or vomiting: whilst women in Tanzania abstain from eating meat, fearing that the baby they deliver might take on the characteristics of the animal they consumed.
Many studies have reported that pregnant women in various parts of the world are forced to abstain from nutritious foods as part of their traditional food beliefs.
Women in the southern part of India commonly avoid raw papaya during pregnancy because they believe that papaya can cause abortion and Mexican women believe that eggs can make the baby smell bad.
Altering roles and activities during pregnancy or following childbirth are well known among anthropologists. The reasons for these changes are many and diverse.
There is a common belief that women and infants were more vulnerable during the post-partum period. Women in many societies observed a series of postpartum practices that aimed to protect the mothers and their newborns.
In Malaysia, similar taboos also exist. Traditional postpartum care in Malaysia is widely practiced regardless of socio-demographic and cultural differences.
The women in Malaysian societies observe 30 to 44 days of confinement period in which adherence to the food restrictions is one of the most common practices.
Funny right???
If only ??
What do u think???
Should this also be done in Nigeria???
Willthe men comply??
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