Silver Chopsticks Miraculously Save Dong-Hyun’s Life. By William Van Zyl.

The Extravagant Podcast

Read the story online as a blog post: https://fivehousepublishing.com/2021/12/02/silver-chopsticks-miraculously-save-dong-hyuns-life/ Excerpt:

The grey and blue coloured nutrient-rich placenta swirled around in the large glass bowl before it fell into a small hole with a soft thud. The bloodied mass pulled the severed umbilical cord into the hollow at the base of the Honey Apple tree like a Renault’s suspension coil spring. The coiled cord stretched and then collapsed on top of the mass. The last of the beautiful rich-red blood plasma dripped into the hole.

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A newborn baby cried of hunger in a room. The tiny house, close to the apple, tree woke up. The inexperienced mum is at his side, comforting her baby with loving words.

‘My little one, my sweet baby, are you hungry?’

The little one grabbed the nipple with his spout-shaped searching mouth. After scanning like a heat searching missile, he struck milk. Dong-Hyun’s tiny wee mouth suckles with the force of a breast pump. A small stream of milk runs down the side of his cute mouth and over the soft, tender skin of his loving mother.....

Excerpt 2: The practices around birth and the placenta: Exploring the beliefs of the different cultures from around the world:

“In 2010, medical anthropologists Daniel Benyshek and Sharon Young studied placenta traditions across 179 societies1. Among the 109 communities that held placenta rituals, there were 169 different disposal methods, including burial, incineration, placement in a specific location, or eating the placenta. Many cultures believe that the placenta is a close relative to the child and attribute human qualities to the placenta. Ancient Egyptians and other cultures believed that the placenta was the child’s secret helper or guardian angel2. In Cambodia, the placenta is considered to be the origin of the baby's soul. Therefore, the burial place is surrounded by spiked plants to protect the baby's soul from evil spirits3. In many traditional communities, people believe that the condition of the placenta will predict the child's future skills and abilities. Also, it is believed that improper handling of the placenta can affect the health of the mother or the child. Thus, rituals for the handling of the placenta must be performed precisely and with great care. Many of these rituals involve washing the placenta in a special liquid, wrapping it within certain fabrics or plants, placing it in a specific vessel, and burying the placenta in an appropriate location. Quite a few cultures believe that it is important to pick an auspicious place to bury the placenta. In Turkey, if parents wish their child to be devout, they bury the placenta in the courtyard of a mosque, whereas if they want their child to care for animals, they bury it in a stable4. In Malaysia, after the placenta is prepared with salt and tamarind, it is buried along with books and pencils under the doorway of the child’s house. The Malay believe that following this tradition will ensure that the child will be hardworking and a good student5. But in Ukraine, the beliefs were the opposite: the midwife must not bury the placenta in a doorway or any place where it would be stepped over, or the mother would become infertile.

The Maori people of New Zealand use the same word for placenta and land: “Whenua”. They believe that the placenta burial symbolises the connection between the newborn baby and mother earth.

On the Indonesian island of Bali, the native tradition is to enclose the placenta in a coconut shell and hang it from a tree in the village graveyard. It is believed this will protect the child from illness and misfortune. The village of Bayung Gede has become a tourist attraction due to the hundreds of placentas hanging in its graveyard. Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture declared the cemetery a national heritage site in Oct. 2020.”

Credit: Liat Ben-Senior. To learn more, visit https://parentsguidecordblood.org/en/news/honoring-placenta-different-cultures

More about the author: http://williamvanzyl.com/

More stories, articles and resources at: https://fivehousepublishing.com/