Superstitions about babies in Vietnam

Cultural and traditional practices for ensuring the healthy development of babies exist in every country, and Vietnam is no exception. For us Japanese, there are also some customs that seem a little strange. In this article, we will introduce some superstitions related to babies in Vietnam.

After giving birth, from the hospital to my home

When giving birth at the hospital and returning home, most of the mother and baby are accompanied by their husband or family members on the way home. In Vietnam, there is a superstition that babies are more vulnerable to being targeted by demons during the journey from the hospital to their home. Therefore, the accompanying family members may play a role similar to a bodyguard to ensure that the baby is not targeted by demons. For example, one example is when the family holds a small knife by the baby’s side to keep the demon from approaching, or when the family places a candle on the floor of the front door to prevent the demon from entering the house while the baby is being carried. I myself had a very strange experience when my wife gave birth; when I went home with my mother-in-law, I held the newborn baby in my arms instead of my wife, who was physically weak after giving birth, and then my mother-in-law followed with a fruit knife from behind. That scene was quite surreal.

I intentionally chose weird names

This is an old Vietnamese custom. In Vietnam, there was a superstition that good names were likely to attract bad spirits, and there was a practice of deliberately choosing strange names to avoid it. According to the mother-in-law, there were even parents who chose names that were unthinkable in modern times, such as "Tanishi." However, it seems that many parents were also concerned that if they kept choosing strange names even as adults, it would be unfortunate, so they officially registered the children's names in the family registry and called them by nicknames when they called the children on a daily basis.

When I take a bath at night, I die.

This is not limited to babies; it is also said of children or adults. It is believed that this superstition arose because in the days when water heaters and indoor air conditioning facilities were not well-equipped, there were many cases of ill health and even death due to sudden temperature changes. In Japan, this is what we would call a feeling of being “cold in the water” or “heat shock.” Even today, it seems that some people still follow these habits without really thinking about it, and avoid taking a bath at night.

Such superstitions and ideas vary widely from region to region, and some can be understood by people of the same Vietnamese ethnicity while others cannot. However, the stories about customs from unfamiliar regions are also popular among Vietnamese people as interesting conversations.

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