Question

Discuss the effects of cultural beliefs and practices in the care of woman during pregnancy.

Answer 1

cultural beliefs and practices during pregnancy : -

every socity wants a chid right after marriage. womanhood and motherhood are gained on this basis.

cultural practices during pregnancy are found to be generally about the diet of pregnant women and gender of the children. cultural pracices related to diet occurs as having some of the food abundantly and limitations on eating some other food. as for nutrition during pregnancy food craving is a behaviour that originates from physiolofical changes in the earlier times of pregnancy, has had cultural importance in time and has become a subject of learning and practicing. it is believed that the food that pregnant women eat affects the gender of their future babies,and if a prenant woman wants to eat sour things she will have a girl and if she wants to eat seet things,she will hae a boy. accordingly the riddle meaning eat sweet give birth to a horseman and eat sour give birth to an girl. differently in rize and trabzon it is believed that pregnant women crave for hot food when it is a girl and sweet food when it is a boy. as a different practice wheat and barley are put in the urine of pregnant women in amasya. it is believed that if it is a girl the wheat and if it is a boy the barley would turn green.

according to the study conducted by celik,capik and engin ,it is observed that women eat to have beautiful or dimpled babies the most when they are pregnant. in these practices 11.7 persent o fwomen eat to have dimpled babies and 2.7 percent of them eat to have a beautiful baby.

it is believed that if the pregnant woman could not eat the food she craved the woman would have disabled , squint eyed children or the child would have a body mark on him or her and if she ate the child would be smart.

it is believed that when pregnant women eat food that is believed to be harmful such as liver, strawberry, blackberry and rose leaf, babies would be in colours that are special to these foods.

it is also believed that if the pregnant women eat an egg the baby would be bald and if she eat rabbit or camel meat the lips of the baby would be spit lips.

it is belef that it would affect the eye colour of the baby wen green or black food is eaten .

there is no proble for the pregnant women in eating the desired food that they crave.however it is imprtant to not exaggerate.l if they eat too much of only one food. it means that they probably do not eat enough of the other food that they should eat. and this may cause the pregnant women or the babies to have an insuffiecient amoun of the nutrition required.

there are various practices applied within the framework of cultural beliefs in our country in order to guess the gender of the baby.

some of them are as follows:

some salt is tossed to pregnant women if she itches her head the baby is a girl but if she itches her nose the baby is a boy.

without the knowledge of the pregnant woman scissors and knife are placed on different sides under the mattress . if she sits near the scissors the baby is a girl if she sits near the knife the baby is a boy.

mother milk is pured in a glass full of water if the milk floats it is a girl or if the milk goes down to the bottom of the glass then it is a boy.

wedding ring of the pregnant woman is tied to a string and hold above the wrist without any movement. if the ring moves circular it is a girl and if the ring moves horizontal it is a boy.

if the future mother becomes uglier during pregnancy the baby is a boy if she becomes prettier then the baby is a girl.

sometime chicken gall is thrown into the fire to guess the baby gender . if the gall goes off it is a boy if it is not it is bvelieved to be a girl.