Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - March 28, 2025


Pine Cones： Pregnancy Superstitions ｜ Rowan & Pine Shorts

Episode Forty-Two： Midwifery & Witchcraft - It's not the devil just because you don't know how it works Episode Forty-Three： Medusa - Snake pubes

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

125.38

Word count

1,719

Sentence count

72

Harmful content

Misogyny

10

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 There is a power that comes to women when they give birth, they don't ask for it, it simply invades them, accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it, Cheryl Feldman.
00:00:30.000 you're welcome to this month's pine cones i'm your host neve and we're wading into the world
00:00:40.340 of pregnancy superstitions those tales warnings folk beliefs and curiosities that have been passed
00:00:48.280 down through generations because really what's pregnancy without a little folklore
00:01:00.000 for as long as women have been having babies 0.96
00:01:05.700 beliefs and superstitions about what the baby will look like 1.00
00:01:09.860 their assigned sex, their temperament have existed
00:01:13.580 some beliefs are protective
00:01:17.060 and guard against birth defects and miscarriage
00:01:20.140 functioning as collective behaviours
00:01:23.200 believed to bring good or bad fortune
00:01:25.580 they could act to strengthen human belief in the existence of god
00:01:31.620 or invoke supernatural beings or ancestral spirits who are important to the community
00:01:37.340 or they might even have basis in observed medical conditions
00:01:41.960 which our predecessors did not have the tools or knowledge to explain
00:01:46.480 folk beliefs are used to improve or shape people's attitudes and behaviors or they attribute some
00:02:00.460 form of control over the uncontrollable and crucially the folk belief expresses the negative
00:02:07.500 outcomes when violated these beliefs are at their core a defense mechanism for things that may
00:02:14.540 happen which are too painful to be accepted or explained with normal human emotion.
00:02:28.320 Inevitably, throughout history, different cultures have sought to influence or control
00:02:33.360 what a pregnant woman does with her body. In Filipino folklore, wearing high heels during
00:02:40.160 pregnancy was said to result in a baby being born cross-eyed. In parts of Indonesia expectant
00:02:47.060 mothers reward not to eat twin bananas lest they give birth to twins themselves. Other beliefs are
00:02:54.320 common across multiple cultures. Eat lots of peanuts if you want a boy. Pregnant women should
00:03:01.840 avoid stress and scary things. Birthmarks are the result of emotional shocks to the mother. 0.99
00:03:07.080 if a woman's hair is cut while she's pregnant the baby could develop problems with its vision
00:03:13.180 if you're pregnant and you look upon a monkey your child will look like a monkey 0.93
00:03:18.720 maybe you want a successful child well if you read a lot the baby will grow up to be a lawyer
00:03:24.720 don't cross your legs or the baby will have a pointed head spicy foods eaten during pregnancy 0.99
00:03:31.200 can burn the baby's eyes resulting in blindness pregnant women should avoid stepping over ropes
00:03:36.760 while pregnant since doing so could result in a nuchal cord where the umbilical cord becomes 0.98
00:03:42.160 tangled around the baby's neck. Oh and never raise your arms above your head while pregnant as this
00:03:47.000 too could result in a nuchal cord. In Ireland pregnant women were told where to go and encouraged 1.00
00:03:52.480 not to visit graveyards or woods. The Simulungan people who are an ethnic group in North Sumatra
00:03:59.060 believe pregnant women should not get wet in the rain to protect their newborn from experiencing
00:04:03.640 headaches. Then there are the temperaments. If you're angry, your baby will come out the same 0.98
00:04:09.540 way. If you're mean and awful, so will your baby be. Unfortunately, the themes of misogyny can
00:04:23.960 extend to unborn girls too. According to myth, girls steal away their mother's beauty. If a 0.91
00:04:31.500 woman looked radiant during pregnancy it was assumed that she must be carrying a boy as though
00:04:36.640 a daughter would siphon away her mother's looks in utero. Another superstition claimed that the
00:04:43.760 worse a woman's morning sickness the more likely she was to be carrying a girl. This belief actually
00:04:50.260 might have some scientific roots. One study published in 2004 found that women who suffered
00:04:56.320 from severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, were slightly more likely to give birth to girls.
00:05:02.780 But rather than attributing this to the presence of a baby girl draining her mother,
00:05:07.140 modern science suggests it's due to higher levels of pregnancy hormones.
00:05:14.060 And then of course there are the mood swings. It was believed that pregnant women's mood swings 0.93
00:05:20.060 indicate that she's carrying a girl, as if hormonal changes and the sheer exhaustion of
00:05:25.340 growing a human weren't enough this old tale subtly implies that even before birth girls are
00:05:31.480 somehow responsible for making life more difficult. In reality mood swings are a normal part of
00:05:37.820 pregnancy regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Of course men got off pretty easily in
00:05:48.900 most pregnancy related traditions but one old Irish custom did make them share a tiny bit of
00:05:54.680 the burden. In some regions expectant fathers were required to carry buckets of water to and from the
00:06:01.100 house as a way of symbolically sharing in the pain of childbirth. A small gesture, not exactly
00:06:07.240 equivalent to labour contractions, but okay. Pregnancy can be such a time of excitement for
00:06:19.460 expectant parents and many cultures developed ways to predict the sex of an unborn child.
00:06:27.380 In Slavic tradition, a wedding ring is dangled over the pregnant belly.
00:06:32.820 If moved in circles, it was said to indicate a girl. If it swung like a pendulum, a boy.
00:06:39.140 Similar beliefs exist in parts of Latin America and South Asia.
00:06:49.460 The belief that heartburn during pregnancy indicates a baby will be born with a full
00:06:54.520 head of hair has some scientific backing. A 2006 study published in Birth found a correlation
00:07:03.140 between increased levels of oestrogen and progesterone, hormones that relax the esophagus
00:07:08.420 and contribute to heartburn, and increased fetal hair growth. However, this does not mean that
00:07:15.440 every case of heartburn results in a particularly hairy newborn.
00:07:25.600 Ancient Greek superstition claimed that if conception occurred during a north wind,
00:07:31.180 the baby would be a boy, while a south wind meant a girl. While amusing, modern biology tells us that
00:07:38.740 sex determination is based entirely on whether the fertilizing sperm carries an X or Y chromosome.
00:07:45.440 Some of these pregnancy superstitions, though unscientific, might contain a kernel of truth.
00:07:52.780 An old wife's tale held that the health of the mother, both mental and physical, could affect the baby.
00:07:59.220 Isn't this just common sense? 0.94
00:08:01.220 In traditional Chinese medicine, pregnant women were advised to avoid cold or raw foods to maintain bodily balance.
00:08:08.480 Today, we know that avoiding raw or undercooked meats and seafood
00:08:11.960 is crucial for preventing foodborne illnesses that could harm the unborn child.
00:08:17.900 Irish folk wisdom claimed that drinking plenty of water would give the baby clear skin.
00:08:23.420 While water doesn't influence complexion,
00:08:26.420 proper hydration is essential for producing amniotic fluid
00:08:29.900 and maintaining the increased blood volume needed during pregnancy.
00:08:37.680 of course it wouldn't be a pine cones if we didn't tell you about some folkloric beliefs
00:08:49.160 mexican culture says that a moonbeam crossing through the window in the dark of the month
00:08:55.940 will make the child a werewolf or a vampire in some cultures it's believed that buying receiving
00:09:03.280 or opening baby gifts before the baby arrives attracts evil spirits and brings misfortune,
00:09:09.140 such as miscarriage. Irish women who encountered a hare would have a baby with a cleft palate.
00:09:17.520 To prevent this happening, the woman would cut a split into any petticoat she wore during the 0.57
00:09:22.300 pregnancy. Women in Ireland who were childless were encouraged to attend and watch the spectacle
00:09:30.900 of the Maybaby or Babog Bultene, a public gathering that occurred on May Day in some
00:09:36.560 parts of the country. A doll made from straw was attached to a pole and a man and his wife
00:09:42.500 dressed in straw costume danced around the doll to musical accompaniment.
00:09:49.380 In many cultures the time of a woman's labour was thought to be a liminal one
00:09:53.940 when the spirit or the other world was closer. Russians believe that during childbirth a woman 0.84
00:10:00.200 is destined for the afterlife and thus must lose human or earthly properties, so she should be as 0.51
00:10:06.380 quiet as possible during childbirth. Singing was not allowed because she also loses her voice. 0.96
00:10:16.160 The people involved in childbirth were believed to be more susceptible to evil forces at this time,
00:10:22.560 so used prayer and ritual to protect themselves. In Celtic cultures, when labour began, the father
00:10:28.580 had to fetch the midwife and someone had to accompany him as he was believed to be vulnerable
00:10:33.620 to danger. Among the Slavs, East Slavic pregnant women prayed to Mokosh, the goddess of earth,
00:10:43.060 waters and fertility and connected with her through women's chores. Men in this culture 0.64
00:10:48.640 have an exceptional protective role towards women, especially during pregnancy. If he cannot share
00:10:55.500 this time with her, especially at night, the woman must wear his clothes or part of them. 0.99
00:11:01.280 If nothing else, keeping his belt is good enough. 1.00
00:11:11.000 So there you have it. Pregnancy wrapped in folklore, wrapped in superstition, 0.81
00:11:16.120 wrapped in, well, sometimes questionable nonsense. While many of these beliefs are
00:11:23.980 relics of the past, they offer a fascinating glimpse into how different cultures have understood
00:11:29.080 and interpreted the journey of bringing new life into the world. And if you've ever been warned
00:11:34.640 that stepping over a rope might make your baby's umbilical cord tangle, just smile and nod. Maybe
00:11:40.080 keep a pair of scissors handy just in case.
00:11:53.980 this has been pine cones if you enjoyed this episode be sure to follow ronan pine for more
00:11:59.720 folklore myths and dark history with a feminist slant if you're in the uk and ireland honor your
00:12:06.540 mother this sunday in the way she deserves until next time watch out for moonbeams and maybe don't 0.98
00:12:14.000 check the weather before you you know thanks for listening and fuck yeah folklore 0.99
00:12:23.980 Thank you. 0.99
00:12:53.980 looking for your next obsession the creators collective podcasts is your gateway to the dark
00:13:05.680 the chilling and the downright fascinating we're a community of independent podcasts with one goal
00:13:11.460 to share the best in true crime paranormal tales folklore and unexplained mysteries whether you
00:13:17.520 crave cold cases that won't stay closed haunted histories that refuse to be forgotten or stories
00:13:22.900 that make you sleep with the lights on,
00:13:25.120 there's a show waiting for you in The Collective.
00:13:27.400 And when you join us, you're not just listening to one podcast.
00:13:30.660 You're stepping into a world of creators who love this stuff as much as you do.
00:13:35.440 Check out The Creators Collective today.
00:13:37.760 Follow the link in our show notes to discover your next favorite podcast.
00:13:41.460 We'll be waiting for you.