 “The bigger the hair, the closer to Jesus.” —Dolly Parton (I think???) ...either way, this me, close to Jesus since 1988. What I mean by "new cultural discovery" is that it is new to me. A few weeks ago, in one of the mommy Facebook groups I'm in, I saw a post by one mama about shaving baby's head. According to the post and/or comments in the post, it was a Mexican cultural thing. I didn't think much more on it, until the other morning when my dad jokingly talked about shaving our baby's head and I immediately asked if that's a Chinese thing, too. He said, yes, Chinese people shave babies' heads, but he didn't recall why, so I decided to do some investigating! By the way, when I say baby, I mean months old, maybe even days old babies. Apparently, shaving a baby's head is a mere superstition that it will help the hair grow in thicker and more luscious. But this is clearly an old wives tale, because my parents didn't shave mine or my brother's hair and we have thick, wavy hair for days. I read also that it was a tradition to take baby's first locks and turn it into a a writing brush. It's also done as a measure for good fortune. However, for some it is a religious ritual, such as in Hindu culture. For Hindus, shaving baby's head has to do with protecting baby from evil and undesirable memories from past lives. Some Muslims also have a ritual practice around shaving baby's hair, believed to cleanse the body at the beginning of life.
From what I understand, in Mexican and other Hispanic cultures, the mindset is similar to the Chinese. The belief is that the new hair will grow in thicker and more beautiful. I'm not surprised by these these cross-cultural traditions, especially between Asians and Hispanics (and Asians and Middle Easterners for that matter). I wonder if this hair shaving tradition was brought over during the early colonization periods when many Asians were brought to what is now Latin America. Maybe Native Americans also have a similar tradition. After all, throughout history we have all shared blood between us. Are you aware of any baby head shaving customs, or other interesting baby related customs? I'm always curious to learn and share! So please share in the comments or send me a message. Things like this just goes to show you even more so how we are connected. If you enjoyed this blog, please also remember to share it with your friends! Cheerio!
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