News From Indonesia  Pregnancy, Ghosts, and Superstitions
Posted in Blogroll by artemisays on May 20, 2011  When I was
pregnant the last thing I was worried about was a ghost stalking
my growing foetus.  Yet this is a legitimate fear for
superstitious Indonesian people. Night time is when ghosts are
out. Protect your foetus by warding off ghosts with scissors or
garlic!  Strange as this imperative may seem, belief in the
supernatural is commonplace. Even modern Indonesians are prone
to sheepishly observing rituals associated with superstitious
beliefs. There is something magical and precarious about
pregnancy, that induces superstition in every culture. Perhaps
because it can be such a vulnerable time for mother and baby and
humans are the only animals that endure so much pain and
complication. However in Indonesia, this might just go a little
further than a Western person is used to such as ‘old wives
tales’ advising pregnant women not to dye their hair, or to
consume more dairy to conceive a girl.  Elly, m