Pumpkin Day

Babinden, the submission death rattle, and bleeding services.

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave
Without leaving a piece of youth

And our lives are forever changed
We will never be the same
The more you change, the less you feel

Songwriter: William Patrick Corgan.

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Babinden - Baba’s Day

Today, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The Day of the midwife.” A traditional Bulgarian celebration of women who practice midwifery. In Bulgarian, the word “baba” means grandmother and is also the traditional word for a midwife.

On Babinden, all the children born over the last year and their mothers gather at the midwife's house. The midwife bathes the children, the mothers feast, and the midwife is then bathed. No men are allowed.

Musicians accompany the procession. Everyone is dressed up, and women are decorated with red peppers and wool. They sing ritual songs with erotic motifs, dance, drink and generally misbehave. Image: https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2017/01/babas-day.html

I suppose, in a way, it’s not dissimilar from a new mum’s catch-up or a check-up with midwives or Plunket here. Other than the ritual bathing of the midwife. Although some of the traditional beliefs they have associated with children are a little different than ours. For example:

• Children should not be conceived on the night of Friday to Saturday. I’m not sure this one would be entirely compatible with our culture, although you can see how it might prevent a few unplanned Friday night pregnancies.

• A pregnant woman may not kick a dog or a cat, step over fire tongs, eat bread left over from a journey, or step on spilt water or litter. I’m not sure if there was a big issue with pregnant women kicking cats and dogs before the rule was introduced, but both that and not stepping in puddles seem sensible.

• If food is hidden from a pregnant woman, the baby will be a fastidious eater and sickly. Yeah, it’s probably not a good idea to hide food from pregnant women. In my experience, enthusiastic compliance with all wishes was the best bet.

• A pregnant woman should be protected from becoming scared, startled or shocked. What the heck? Did they have a problem previously with pranksters jumping out at pregnant ladies and frightening the progeny out of them? Who knows, but this does seem the best course of action.

I quite like the rule that “the fire in the house should not be put out until the 40th day.” It's good to keep those mums and babies warm.

Some of the ideas may seem a bit strange today, such as the fact that when a woman goes into labour, the only person told other than the baba is the mother-in-law, but it’s got to beat some of our crass commercial celebrations.

Record submissions

As I’m sure you’re aware, submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill closed last night at midnight, and David Seymour turned into a pumpkin. Although no numbers are available yet, a record number of submissions is expected, with estimates in the tens of thousands.

Image: BeFunky.

As important as it has been for people to submit, I’m looking forward to not receiving ten reminders daily to do so or to tell others to do so. Grinching aside, there has been a fantastic response, and someone will be awfully busy reading all the words people have submitted.

Personally, I think David Seymour should have to read out all the opposing submissions to the nation, with no opportunity to provide a rebuttal and an electric shock collar in case he looks sarcastic doing so. It might seem extreme, but this one seemed the kindest of the options I considered.

Parliament’s website fails