One Month Old

It's a big deal in Chinese culture when a baby reaches a month old. It's called 滿月 (man yue), which literally means "a full month". It's easily understandable, for fatality rate was so high back in the old days that it was practically a miracle if and when a newborn survived the first month. Times have changed now, obviously, but some of the customs remained.

Similar to baby showers, family and friends would give baby clothes as gifts on the day the baby turns a month old. Unlike baby showers, however, these gifts would have to come as "a set": clothing garments from head to toe, plus accessories, such as earrings, rings, bracelets, and necklaces preferably made of gold. In return, the baby's family would give food as "Thank You" gifts: chicken with sticky rice, eggs that are dyed red, or chicken cooked in sesame oil. However, in recent years, many people simply give red envelopes and these greasy items have been replaced by nice, low-fat rectangular-shaped cakes.

Also, a baby's one month birthday is the day to collect things for keepsakes. Families of wealth would hire a jeweler to make a mold of the baby's foot prints with pure gold. The belly button stump can be turned into part of the baby's personal signature stamp. Also, thousands of years of Confucianism has created solid support for education. Since, in Chinese culture, pens are associated with high scholastic performance, some parents also shave the baby's hair and have a "pen" (or more precisely, a traditional Chinese writing brush) made out of it. It is believed that having the baby's first pen made out of his/her own hair is to encourage or facilitate in the child's academic pursue.

Many of mommy's and daddy's co-workers gave you red envelopes and gifts, so we went out this afternoon to order some cakes. This was your first outing, and we were very nervous/apprehensive/excited/proud. We put you in a "Snugli", and it worked much better than the cloth baby carrier we used last time.

This marked the beginning of many future outings and adventures, baby!!