中英雙語話中國民風民俗 第1期:出生

Chinese people value their family very much because they regard it as a means to keep the family blood stream continuously running. And the running family blood stream maintains the life of the whole nation. That is why children production and breeding in China becomes a focus of all members of families. It is even accepted by them as an essential moral duty. There is a Chinese saying that of all who lack filial piety，the worst is who has no children

中國人非常重視家庭，因爲他們認爲家庭是使家族血脈延續的方式，而只有血脈的延續才能保證整個民族的生命力。因此，在中國，所有家庭成員都非常重視孩子的生養，他們甚至認爲這是一種道德上的責任。中國有句諺語:“不孝有三，無後爲大”，很能說明問題。

The fad that Chinese people pay great attention to children production and breeding can be supported by many customary practices. Many traditional customs about production of children are aN based on the idea of children protection.

中國人對生養孩子的重視體現在許多傳統習俗上。這些習俗都是以保護孩子爲出發點的。

Pregnancy

懷孕

When a wife is found to be pregnant, people will say she“has happiness"and all her family members will feel overjoyed over it. Throughout the whole period of pregnancy，both she and the fetus are well attended，so that the fetus is not hurt in any way and the new generation is born both physically and mentally healthy. To keep the fetus in a good condition，the would-be mother is offered sufficient nutritious foods and some traditional Chinese medicines believed to be helpful to the fetus.

如果發現一位妻子懷孕了，人們會說她“有喜了”。全家人都會因此感到高興。懷孕期間，孕婦和胎兒都會得到悉心照料，以免胎兒受到任何的傷害，影響下一代的身心健康。爲了保證胎兒發育良好，通常都會給未來的母親提供充足的富含營養的食品和一些他們認爲會對胎兒發育有益的中草藥。

After Birth

出生後

When a Chinese baby is born，he/she is already considered to be one year old:age is calculated from the date of conception not the date of birth.

一出生，中國人就會認爲他/她已經一歲了。年齡是從懷孕的日子，而不是出生的日子開始算的。

Praise should never be given to or applied to a new-born Chinese baby as this is believed to invite the attention of demons and ghosts:the baby，instead，should be referred to with unfavourable terms and words!

初生的中國嬰兒是不能誇的，因爲人們認爲這樣可能會引起惡魔或鬼的注意。要用不太好的詞語來稱呼嬰兒。

A concave navel is considered a sign of a prosperous life for the baby, while an extruding one is less auspicious. If a baby has more than one hair crown it is thought he/she will be mischievous and disobedient, but if he/she has wide and that it becomes nicely rounded.

嬰兒肚臍下陷是將來能過上富足生活的標誌，肚臍突出就不那麼吉利了。嬰兒如果有不止一個發冠，人們會認爲他/她將來會比較淘氣，不聽話;如果嬰兒的耳朵又大又厚，將來會比較有福氣。嬰兒的頭要經常撫摸，這樣頭型才能長得比較圓。

Babies who continuously cry are thought to have been disturbed by evil spirits and to ward these off, a single pomelo leaf is placed beneath his/her mattress.

要是嬰兒不停的哭，那說明有邪物來驚擾他/她，可以在嬰兒的睡墊下面放上一個袖樹的葉子來驅邪。

Care is also taken to ensure that the baby's spirit does not leave his/her body permanently:a baby's face should not be powdered with white talcum powder when he/she is sleeping as his/her wandering spirit will not recognise his/her face and not be reunited with the body. When a little older, the baby may be fitted with a black bracelet，talisman or image of the Buddha which iS thought io ensure his/her well being.

還應該小心，防範嬰兒的靈魂永久離體。嬰兒睡覺時，臉上不能擦爽身粉，否則他/她的靈魂在外面遊蕩時，會認不出自己的臉，不能附體。嬰兒大一點後，可能會給他/她戴上黑色的手鐲、護符或佛像，人們認爲這些東西可以保佑嬰兒。

Confinement

坐月子

After birth，the mother is expected to observe a 40-day period of confinement, which is called "zuoyuezi"，and to stay in bed for a month in order to recover from the fatigue. During this period，she is not allowed to eat food considered“cold" or have cold baths:keeping warm，by the wearing of thick clothes for example,is considered of paramount importance. If it can be afforded，a special helper-responsible for both mother and child- is hired to tend to the new mother for at least two weeks.

嬰兒出生以後，嬰兒的母親要坐40天的月子，爲了從分娩的勞累中恢復過來，她一個月不能下牀。在此期間，她不能吃寒性的食物，也不能洗冷水澡。穿着厚衣服來保暖被認爲是最重要的。如果條件允許，可以僱個保姆來照顧嬰兒的母親和嬰兒，時間至少是半個月。

Month-Old Celebration

滿月

The first important event for the newly born baby is the one-month Buddhist or Taoist families，on the morning of the baby's 30th day，sacrifices are offered to the gods so that the gods will protect the baby in his subsequent life. Ancestors are also virtually informed of the arrival of the new member in the rding to the customs，relatives and friends receive gifts from the child's parents. Types of gifts vary from place to place，but eggs dyed red are usually a must both in town and the countryside. Red eggs are chosen as gifts probably because they are the symbol of changing process of life and their round shape is the symbol of harmonious and happy life. They are made red because red color is a sign of happiness in Chinese culture. Besides eggs，food like cakes，chicken and hams are often used as gifts. As people do in the Spring Festival，gifts given are always in even number

孩子出生後第一件重要的事就是慶祝孩子滿月。信奉佛教或道教的家庭會在孩子出生後的第三十個早晨給神佛上供，祈求神佛保佑孩子，同時也告知祖先:家裏又添了口人。根據傳統，親戚和朋友會收到孩子父母送的禮物。不同的地方禮物不盡相同，然而不管在農村還是在城市，紅殼蛋是必備的。這是因爲，紅殼蛋是生活過程改變的象徵，圓形則象徵着和諧幸福的生活。蛋殼被染成紅色，因爲紅色在中國文化中代表幸福。除了雞蛋，孩子的父母還會送蛋糕，雞肉火腿等禮物。跟春節禮物一樣，滿月禮物也必須是雙數的。

During the celebration，relatives and friends of the family will also return some presents. The presents indude those which the child may use，like foods，daily materials，gold or silver wares. But the commonest are some money wrapped in a piece of red paper. Grandparents usually give their grandchild a gold or silver ware to show their deep love for the child. In the evening，the child's parents give a grand teast at home or in a restaurant to the guests at the celebration.

在慶祝滿月期間，親朋好友也會回禮。回禮可以是孩子能吃能用的東西，也可以是金銀器物。但是最常見的禮物還是紅包。孩子的爺爺奶奶通常會給自己的孫子或孫女一件金或銀的東西來表達他們對孩子的疼愛。當天晚上，孩子的父母會在家或飯店設宴招待客人。

The day after the feast, the baby's hair is shaved off; the baby's hair is regarded as“interim" hair and its removal facilitates the growth of“permanent" hair.

滿月第二天，孩子要理“滿月頭”，剃掉被認爲是“過渡性”的胎毛。人們認爲這樣會有助於真正的頭髮長出來。

Naming a child

給孩子起名

In Chinese culture, a person's name has an important role to play in determining his/ her destiny. Because of this，Chinese parents will often spend a long time choosing their child's name and all possible factors must be taken into account when they are naming their children.A typical Chinese name has three characters, in principle these are the family name，a name indicating the child's generation and a personal name gh often the second"principle" is not followed. The generation indicating characters in the names are usually given by the forefathers，who chose them from a line of a poem or found their own and put them in the genealogy for their descendents to this reason，it is possible to know the relationships between the family relatives by just looking at their names.

中國文化認爲，名字非常重要，可能會決定一個人的命運。因此，父母在給自己的孩子起名時常常要花很長時間，必須要考慮到所有可能的因素。中國人的名字原則上講通常有三個字:姓，表示輩分的字和自己的名。然而，表示輩分的字常常會不取。姓名裏表示輩分的字通常都是祖輩們的，他們把要用的字從詩句裏選出來，放在族譜中供子孫們使用。因此，只看一個人的名字，就可以知道家族裏親戚之間的關係。

Naming a child must take into consideration five principles:the name must have a favourable meaning(particularly favoured are meanings reflecting wealth or well-being ) and names with negative possibilities should be avoided，the name must sound pleasant when spoken，the name must reflect favourable mathematical calculations，it must be harmonious with regard to yin and yang，and it must possess one of the five elements of metal，wood，water，fire，and is a common practice to find the newborn baby's Eight Charocters(in four pairs，indicating the year, month，day and hour of a person's birth，each pair consisting of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch，formerly used in fortune-telling ) and the element.。the Eight Characters. itionally believed in China that the world is made up of five principal elements; metal, wood，water, fire, and earth. A person's name is to include an element that he lacks in his Eight Characters. If he lacks water， for example，then his name is supposed to contain a word like river, lake，tide，sea，stream，rain，or any word associated with water. If he lacks metal，then he is to be given a word like gold，silver, iron，or steel.

給孩子起名要考慮五個原則:名字的意思要好(跟“財富”或“福氣”有關的意思最好)，要避免不太好的可能性;名字念起來必須要好聽;筆畫上必須要好;必須符合陰陽的理論;必須具備金木水火土中一個要素。起名時，往往會找出孩子的生辰八字(分爲四組，分別表示一個出生的年、月、日、時;每組包括一天干一地支，過去用於算命)，算出八字中缺金木水火土五要素中的哪一種。算出缺哪種後，起的名字裏要包含那一要素。比如說，如果缺水，那起的名字裏就要包括河、湖、潮、海、雨或者其他跟水有關係的字眼。如果缺金，給他起個帶金、銀、鐵或鋼的名字。

Some people even believe that the number of strokes of a name has a lot to do with the owner's fate. So when they name a child，the number of strokes of the name is taken into account. When written，each Chinese name has a certain number of strokes，and the number of brush strokes of each character corresponds to a certain element. A two-stroke character is associated with wood，three and four strokes fire, five and six strokes earth and nine and ten strokes water. The total number of strokes in a name can determine a person's fortune:for example twelve strokes bespeaks a life of illness and failure，while 81 strokes presages prosperity and a happy future.

有人甚至認爲，名字的筆畫也跟命運有很大關係。所以給孩子起名時，還要考慮名字的筆畫。每個人的名字寫起來時筆畫都是一定的，每個漢字的筆畫對應金木水火土中的一個元素。兩畫的字對應水，三畫四畫對應火，五畫六畫對應土，九畫十畫對應水。名字的總筆畫數可以決定一個人的命運。例如，十二畫預示着一個人會多災多病，生活失敗，而八十一畫則表明這個人生活富足，未來幸福。

Some parents prefer to use a character from an eminent person's name, hoping that their child inherits that person's nobility and greatness. Characters with noble and encouraging connotations are also among the first choices. Some parents inject their own wishes into their children's names. When they want to have aboy，they may name their girl Zhaodi meaning "expecting a brother".

有些父母喜歡用偉人名字中的字給自己的孩子起名，他們希望自己的孩子能繼承那個人的高貴和偉大。有好的意思的字也在首選之列。還有一些父母通過孩子的名字表達他們的願望。比如如果他們想要個男孩，就可能給自己女兒起名爲“招弟”。

One-Hundred-Day Celebration

百天

It is another important occasion to mark when the child is one hundred days old. In ancient times there used to be a grand ceremony, which was called “baisui"，Or“one hundred years old" this name，the Chinese are in fad expressing their wish that their beloved child will enjoy a life of longevity. This celebration is not so common now, so we will not go to details.

孩子一百天的時候也要慶祝。在古代，會舉行一個叫“百歲”的盛大儀式。通過這個名字可以看出，中國人事實上在表明:他們希望自己心愛的孩子能長命百歲。如今慶祝百天已經不太常見了，所以此處不再贅述。

One-Year-Old Birthday

週歲生日

When the child is one year old，there is an interesting custom called“zhua-zhou"zhou is regarded as one of the most important customs on a child's first birthday.

孩子一歲時有個非常有趣的風俗叫“抓週”。抓週被認爲是孩子週歲生日最重要的組成部分之一。

The earliest written record of this custom can be traced back to the Song Dynasty ( 960一1279) the late Qing Dynasty(1644一1911)，this custom prevailedin Beijing. Zhuazhou is not an occasion for grand feasts and elaborate gifts:thehosts do not even send out invitations. The idea is that relatives will show up spon taneously to celebrate the child's first birthday. Gifts from relatives on this day are usually not costly，and do not include such items as gold or silver jewellery. Instead，dimsum or toys are presented to the child. Seniors meeting the child for the first time usually offer a coin to be fastened around the child's neck with custom is not only applicable to birthdays，but many other occasions，as well.

關於“抓週”的最早的記載可以追溯到宋朝(960一1279 )。清朝(1644一1911)後期，在北京地區尤其流行。抓週時並不需要舉行盛大的宴會，不需要精美的禮品，甚至不需要請帖。親戚們會自發地出席，來慶祝孩子的週歲生日。雖然也會給孩子禮物，但往往不會很貴，不會有金銀首飾，通常都是零花錢或玩具。第一次見到孩子的長輩會把一個硬幣用線繫到孩子的頸上。當然這一風俗不僅適用於生日，也適用於其他場合。

The zhuazhou ceremony usually takes place before the longevity noodle at lunchtime. A wealthy family will install a table on the bed(or“kang”-a heated brick bed used in Northern China ) where stamps，dassic Confucian，Buddhist and Taoist books，a Chinese brush pen，ink, paper, an ink stone，abacus，coins, an accounting book, jewellery，flowers，rouge，food and toys are placed. If the baby is female, the following items are added:a scoop，scissors，ruler， thread， practice, however, is much more simplified in a common family. Usually a bronze tray instead of a table is placed on the“kang" and a book from old-style private schools，like the Three-Character Primer, is put on top. Other things include a Chinese brush pen，abacus and a cake. Scissors，and a ruler are added for a girl.

抓週儀式通常會在午飯吃長壽麪之前舉行。富庶的家庭會在牀或炕上擺個桌子，放上印、經典儒佛道家典籍、筆墨紙硯、算盤、硬幣、賬本、珠寶、花、粉、食物和玩具。如果是女孩，除了這些再加上勺子、剪子、尺子、線等物。平常人家的抓週儀式要簡單多了。通常會在炕上放上一個銅盤，而不是桌子，在盤上放本私塾用書，比如《三字經》。再放上毛筆、算盤和蛋糕。如果是女孩，就加上剪刀和尺子。

The parents then seat the baby in front of the table or the tray. Without help or guidance from anyone，the baby is then free to choose anything in front of them. The selected items he or she chooses are used to foretell the child's interests, carear and indinafion in the future.

父母把自己的孩子放到桌子或盤子前面。不給任何幫助和指導，讓孩子自由地選擇前面的東西。孩子選的東西會預言孩子的興趣、事業和未來的傾向。

Selecting the stamp means the child will be an officer in the future; if he or she chooses the stationery first，the baby will be industrious and endowed with great literary talents; the abacus suggests a penchant for statistics and financing. A girl baby who first grabs a sewing item or cooking utensil will be a good housewife. On the other hand，when the child picks a cake or a toy，he or she will know how to enjoy the pleasures in life. In the great Chinese literary classis, Hong Lou Meng，or the Dreary of the Red Mansion，Jia Baoyu，the hero，actually grabbed powder and other girls' stuff at the ceremony when he was a child. As a result, he likes mingling with girls very much. It is said that Qian Zhongshu，a very famous scholar in China，took a book at the ceremony. His father gladly named him Zhongshu，which literally means“book lover"，and he proved his penchant for studies later in his life.

選了官印，孩子將來會做官;選了文具，孩子會勤奮學習，有很高的文學天賦;選了算盤，說明孩子將來會很喜歡統計和金融。選了縫紉或烹飪用品的女孩將來會成爲很好的家庭主婦。反之，如果孩子選了蛋糕或者玩具，將來就會享受生活的樂趣。在中國古典名著《紅樓夢》裏，賈寶玉在抓週時抓了脂粉和其他一些女孩的東西，他後來非常喜歡在女孩堆裏廝混。據說中國著名學者錢鍾書在一歲抓週的儀式上抓了本書。他的父親因此非常開心，給他取名爲“鍾書”。後來，他的成就也證明了這一點。

The custom of Zhuazhou influences how the parents，grandparents and other relatives will encourage the child，and how they will conduct enlightenment education. Therefore，even though some parents may not be superstitious，they will still carry out the custom. This is also why the custom has been passed on through so many generations and is still practiced to this day.

抓週的習俗會影響家長和親友將來怎樣鼓勵孩子，怎樣對孩子進行啓蒙教育。所以，雖然有些父母並不迷信，他們也會舉行抓週儀式。這就是這一習俗歷經數代仍然延續不息的原因了。