My best friend is pregnant with twins and we’re planning her baby shower. Her mother really wants to find some Polish customs to include because my friend’s husband’s family is Polish. Do you guys know of any customs centered on being pregnant, having twins (both girls), baby showers, etc.?
Thanks!
Dang it, that was supposed to say Portuguese and Polish. This should be an interesting shower! Her mother-in-law was born in Poland and her father-in-law was born in Portugal.
I’ve made the changes for you, Congodwarf.
Thanks!
I don’t think there are any such Polish customs. It’s traditional to go visit the parents and baby with a gift and congratulations.
Baby showers don’t really happen in Poland. They are a new thing here, imported from America.
I’m sure there are superstitions and old wives tales, but those are generally very similar to others found in Europe. (Don’t raise your hands above your head, and so on.)
Ah, thanks. I did know that but totally forgot (about baby showers) when making my request (babies and pregnancy are totally not my area of expertise). I think what her mom is looking for is things like traditional food that are supposed to be good for pregnancy, specific clothing, gifts, or sayings - anything someone might do or say to or for an expecting couple. I know here is typically all about the parents and baby but other countries may have some sort of impending grandparenthood recognition also. Anything like that.
Basically, if you live in Poland or Portugal and find out that your friend or family member is expecting, is there anything you’d do other than wish them well, based on customs in your country - even if you have no clue what a baby shower is?
Actually, superstitions could be good information too! We could make a game out of it, something like picking the real superstitions out of a list of fakes. What’s the deal with lifting arms over the head?
Hmm, I found an interesting article… in Polish, of course.
But I’l happily write down some interesting facts and superstitions when I have a free moment. 
Oh, and the ban on raising your hands has to do with the umbilical cord winding itself around the baby’s neck if you do that. (There are a lot of superstitions dealing with this.)
One you might not want to mention at a baby shower is that getting a layette before the baby is born was considered unlucky. 
OK, so here are quite a few superstitions I managed to snag off Polish pregnancy/parenting message boards (with people complaining about getting unsolicited advice), and a few historical curiosities. (A lot of these are probably found in plenty other European countries.)
Also, thank gods these are just superstitions, because trying to keep track of all this if it were true would not leave pregnant women much time for anything else.
The sex of the baby:
If it’s a boy:
- the expecting mother will become more beautiful
- she will have an appetite for spicy and/or sour thing
- her stomach will be up high and well defined
If it’s a girl:
- the pregnant woman will become uglier (the beauty is going to the girl), might get spots or even a moustache (with twin girls? I’d rather not think about it
) - she will crave sweet food
- her stomach will be low and sort of spread to the sides
A lot of things will make the umbilical cord wrap around the baby’s neck:
- raising your hands above your head (how are pregnant women supposed to dress is never addressed)
- wearing a necklace, pendant
- walking under ropes, lines (like laundry lines), reins, ladders
- having any string, rope etc. wrapped around you (so don’t measure that stomach, unless you want your baby to die!)
- also knitting, doing crochet, sewing during a pregnancy
- crossing your legs also brings this about
(basically, don’t move too much and keep any sort of string/thread-like object at a distance)
There are also a lot of ways a mother can influence the appearance and character of the baby with her now magical vision:
- looking through a keyhole will make the baby be born cross-eyed
- looking at a fire will lead to the baby having a bald spot on its head
- looking at the sun will cause the baby to be born blind
- looking at ugly people will make the baby ugly
- looking at a hare or rabbit will make the baby have a harelip (this will also happen if the expecting mother licks a knife)
- looking at animals will make the baby stupid
- looking at red berries will cause the baby to be born with a port wine mark
And there are a lot of other random superstitions:
- pregnant women should have all their cravings satisfied
o this includes generally inedible things such as unripe fruit, chalk, paper, tree bark, as “the body knows what’s good for the baby” - refusing to satisfy a craving can lead to several calamities:
o the person who refused will be eaten by mice OR the stock of whatever was requested will be eaten by mice (it’s nice the little critters care so much)
o the baby will be born with a birthmark in the shape of whatever was refused - a pregnant woman should not cut her hair, as this can lead to the child being stupid and having a shorter life
- also, no dyeing of hair, as the baby will be born with red hair
- a pregnant woman should not share food with anyone or she will not have enough milk
- a pregnant woman should not be a godmother, because she will steal the luck from her godchild
- no makeup, or the baby will go astray
- a pregnant woman having clothes made cannot let the tailor use pins on her when modelling clothes as this will lead to difficulties with birthing the placenta
- in a bus or train a pregnant woman cannot sit in backward-facing seats as the baby will be born in breech position
- heartburn means the baby’s hair is growing
- if a pregnant woman is frightened and touches a part of her body (face, arm etc.) the baby will have a birthmark in that spot
- when washing dishes, don’t let any water touch the stomach or the baby will have a tendency to drink too much (when it grows up a bit, I would assume…)
- cleaning the floor often leads to an easy delivery
- don’t sit cross-legged or the baby will have crooked legs
And some superstitions when the baby is born:
- to cheat evil spirits, the baby should not be brought into the house through the door, but through the window or some other opening not usually used for this (if you live in a high building, ask your ground-floor neighbours for help ); also dress up the baby so it’s unrecognisable
- wait at least three days before throwing out baby’s first bathwater, and do this after sundown
- use red ribbons to turn away evil spirits
- you couldn’t cut your hair during pregnancy, and now for a year you can’t cut the baby’s hair, or it will go stupid
- don’t put the baby’s shoes on a table, or the baby will have difficulties learning to walk
That’s it. All of this is incredibly silly, and most is rather gruesome. I hope you can have some fun with it.
These are so funny! Thank you! You really translated all that? I really appreciate that.
By using clothes which are put on either open and arms first (blouses and jackets yes, sweaters no) or put on feet-first. My paternal grandmother wore her first “goes on with your arms raised” piece of clothing in the 1960s, every previous top had been laced.
I tried searching a bit, but all I find on Portugal is Nativity-related customs (not applicable) and the tidbit that baby girls there do not get their ears pierced. Sorry. Oh, and I can tell you they didn’t have baby showers either, it’s an American custom.
Thanks Nava. Do you have any idea why baby girls don’t get their ears pierced? Frankly I wouldn’t get a baby’s ears pierced either but that’s just because I feel people should make their own decisions about that kind of stuff, not have their parents make the decision for them. Somehow I suspect it’s deeper than that if it’s a cultural thing.
It’s… a cultural thing. Some countries have the custom of piercing female babies’ ears, some don’t. Custom. Tradition. Cue Fiddler on the Roof. I know that in those countries which do it, it used to be an easier way to identify “baby-girl” than getting different-colored baby clothes (which is a much more modern custom), but for those countries where it’s not done, I don’t know:
- which ones have another traditional way to identify g/b,
- which ones don’t feel the need, as their language makes the distinction relatively unimportant,
- which ones don’t feel the need, as their baby-related customs make the distinction relatively unimportant,
- which ones used to do it but don’t any more…
I was mostly having a laugh. 
What you are saying makes perfect sense, only some people persist in still believing in it (that’s one of the very few superstitions I knew before doing any research).
Who today wouldn’t have to get a new wardrobe to avoid raising their hands above their head?
The same people who don’t merely use the same word to refer to a pregnant woman’s cravings and to a birthmark (antojo), but who actually believe that wanting (and being unable to get) strawberries out of season will give your kid a strawberry-shaped mark… I had this amazingly dumb coworker who once spouted that one in all seriousness, prompting a very-dry response of “well, let’s hope my wife doesn’t get an antojo for a BMW, because explaining that one to the kindergarten teachers could be embarrasing.” I wonder how many other countries between Spain and Poland share that one.
Now the one about no making/fixing clothes, that would have given most of my female ancestors the fits! I have a heirloom aplique which you were supposed to sew on a normal dress to turn it into a party dress, and as soon as the party was over you took it off again; the same was done with ribbons and lace. No celebrations, no fixing rips, no sewing buttons on? Yeah, I can see that one going down well. And that’s without even getting into Grandma The Dressmaker, who would have been out of an income for the duration of her three pregnancies!