The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the ChildChrisman, Oscar
History
The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the Child
Chrisman, Oscar
Children; Manners and customs
On the third day after birth, the child was washed for the first time.
Friends and relatives were invited to take part and they brought
presents to the child. Immediately after the washing, the ceremony of
binding the wrists took place, which in some cases consisted of the
tying of one or more ancient _cash_ to each wrist by means of a red
cotton cord while with others only a loose red string was put around
each wrist. When the child was a month old, the mother and child left
her room for the first time and the ceremony of naming the baby and
shaving its head took place. All the relatives and friends were invited
and they were expected to take dinner with the child, and, which was
more important, to take presents.
"The presumption is that a Chinese child is born with the same general
disposition as children in other countries. This may perhaps be the
case; but either from the treatment it receives from parents or nurses,
or because of the disposition it inherits, its nature soon becomes
changed, and it develops certain characteristics peculiar to the Chinese
child. It becomes _t'ao ch'i_. That almost means mischievous; it almost
means troublesome--a little tartar--but it means, exactly _t'ao ch'i_.
In this respect almost every Chinese child is a little tyrant. Father,
mother, uncles, aunts, and grandparents are all made to do his bidding.
In case any of them seems to be recalcitrant, the little dear lies down
on his baby back on the dusty ground and kicks and screams until the
refractory parent or nurse has repented and succumbed, when he gets up
and good-naturedly goes on with his play and allows them to go about
their business. The child is _t'ao ch'i_."[80]
The baby in China has its toys to play with and it also has its Mother
Goose rhymes and Headland states that he collected more than six hundred
of such rhymes.[81] A few will be sufficient to give here to show their
resemblance to our own. The following is as popular in China as "Jack
and Jill" is here:
"He climbed up the candle-stick,
The little mousey brown,
To steal and eat tallow,
And he couldn't get down.
He called for his grandma,
But his grandma was in town,
So he doubled up into a wheel,
And rolled himself down."
This next one easily calls up "Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home:"
"Fire-fly, fire-fly,
Come from the hill,
Your father and mother
Are waiting here still.
They've brought you some sugar,
Some candy and meat,
Come quick or I'll give it
To baby to eat."
The following is said over the baby's toes very much as "This little pig
went to market:"
"This little cow eats grass,
This little cow eats hay,
This little cow drinks water,
This little cow runs away,
This little cow does nothing,
Except lie down all day.
We'll whip her."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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