In my desi culture we are in a constant fear of the Evil eye. According to Wikipedia, "The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike. The term also refers to the power attributed to certain persons of inflicting injury or bad luck by such an envious or ill-wishing look". What is its significance in Islam I am not the one to ask. I do believe in it. For further info you can refer to these sites here and here. For a little fun and to what extent we overreact read it here. Then again i will repeat these are my opinions and please do your own research before following anything.
Anyways, even though i do believe in the evil eye and i have seen that almost every culture does, I don't let it ride over my head most of the time. If i feel something bad is happening and something is wrong i pray to Allah and that's the end of it for me. But there many are superstitions attached when it comes to Pregnancies. Because in my culture and many more around the world one unit families are not that common, and in joint system families Pregnancy is not only related to the mother and father but lots of other people are involved. SO the more people the more superstitious and fears are attached to it and i sometimes do understand the worry behind these superstitions. Who doesn't want to protect something so cute?
Here I will list some of the Superstitions a Desi mom might have to face.
The first three months are a hush hush period. I have read that this is common in most of the cultures. You are not suppose to announce the pregnancy to the extended members of the family or friends until the first trimester is over. The sensitivity of the first trimester might have started this superstition but why it started is something nobody knows but it is followed by many people still.
Superstitions related to the sex of the baby is something else. The elder ladies of the house are mostly involved in these. Guessing what the sex might be by looking at the pregnant lady. If she is craving sweets, has gotten prettier and many other things like that, it is a boy. If the lady is craving salty and spicy stuff and has skin problems then it might be a girl. Such superstitions are found in many other cultures as well. You can have fun reading here.
Eclipse are another thing a pregnant woman has to be afraid of. She is not suppose to go outside or use a knife on that day as it may live a birthmark on the baby.
In our culture we do not have Baby showers, although I personally think this is a very practical party for a mother-to-be but, we are not suppose to reveal to the world that what sex the bun in the oven is. This sometimes is extended to the extreme that the parents do not shop for the baby until it arrives. These things are changing a bit now. The younger moms do want to enjoy themselves and have fun. So we do see many baby showers now a days.
Funerals, grave yards and walking alone in the dark are some of the things asked to avoid by the pregnant women. Evil spirits and all that.
Here are some more fun reads. looks for the one that says if a baby is born with teeth it might end up a vampire.
For some around the world pregnancy superstitions read here.
This is all for fun. Do not take anything of this seriously. As we say these are only superstitions and not based on any truth. Please take care of yourself and pray to God and all will be well Inshallah.
Take care.
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