Where did the tradition arise of passing out cigars when a baby is born?
firing up a stogie helps cover up the odors babies tend to produce. I don’t know if that’s really true, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Kieras
September 23, 2000, 1:22am
3
That I do not know. But , now that you brought it up if you think about it. Smoking of any sorts is bad on anyones lungs. But promoting it is probably especially bad when it is a newborn infant. Just wanted to put my two cents in.
I am not knocking smoking I am one.
Desmond Morris is always entertaining, but not always reliable. He has a weird-sounding theory in his book Babywatching
It is an invitation to the men to share in the sending of thanks to the ancient gods in the heavens above… The smoke from the cigars is intended to waft away and rise up to the heavens where it enters the nostrils of the gods and communiates to them the celebration that is taking place… The ancient Mayans appear to have been the first people to have blown smoke at the heavens in this way… Why cigars and not cigarettes? … The new father, suddenly blessed with the great gift of a child, must make an extravagent gesture–hence the expensive cigars. The second explanation is a simple Freudian one that sees the cigars as phallic symbols–“erect” cigarettes that advertise his virility, the virility that led to this moment.
The Freudian explanation is the only one I’ve heard other than Morris’s. Of course Freud isn’t very reliable either.
Kat
September 23, 2000, 5:29am
5
Spock regarded the cigar a moment longer. “I believe I understand,” he said. “During a time of critical overpopulation, the birth of a child would have required an adult to die. The adults resorted to a sort of lottery to decide who must make way. Your customs…fascinating. Not efficient, but fascinating.”
Enterprise , Vonda N. McIntyre