Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Red Eggs and New Babies


So this week at work I experienced a new Chinese custom and I thought I’d leave a quick note about it. A woman in the office had a baby boy recently, and the day that she came back she came with a box filled with heart shaped tins. Inside these tins was an egg dyed red. Apparently when you have a baby, boy or girl, you give out eggs to all of your co-workers, I’m assuming also your friends.

I did some research online and it turns out that red eggs are traditionally given out a month after a baby is born. In older times if a baby reached a month then they were likely to survive (babies are also traditionally named after surviving one month) so the families celebrated. 

This was also traditionally the time that the mother re-entered the world after a month long period of confinement after giving birth. This is a tradition that many mothers still follow today, and is one that I also read about gaining popularity along the West coast.

In Chinese culture, eggs symbolize fertility and red is a lucky color. Just thought that this was an interesting custom that I should share! Love,

Maggie

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Apparently when you http://www.squidoo.com/little-tikes-kitchens have a baby, boy or girl, you give out eggs to all of your co-workers, I’m assuming also your friends.