My husbands superstitions

[Kahlan]

My husband is Spanish, infact his Mom and Dad moved here (arizona) from Spain and they have this thing where whenever you say a baby is cute or beautiful you have to touch him or her, it dosn't matter where o r how long you just have to touch them. I asked him why and he said if you dont the baby will get sick but I still dont get it. Has anyone ever heard of this or know WHY this is?

[Antoninus]

I think its because you open up an oppurtunity for a spirit to get into the baby. Im not sure, Im probably wrong.

[Irishwitchyone]

My husband is Spanish, infact his Mom and Dad moved here (arizona) from Spain and they have this thing where whenever you say a baby is cute or beautiful you have to touch him or her, it dosn't matter where o r how long you just have to touch them. I asked him why and he said if you dont the baby will get sick but I still dont get it. Has anyone ever heard of this or know WHY this is?
I had wondered how that had come into Chamorro (Guam) culture, now I know! :)

Yes, and Antonius is right, in as much as I know the tradition from Guam. The Chamorro believe that if you see a baby and feel that (s)he is just adorable, you must pinch the baby, or the baby will get sick because you've stolen it's soul. When I moved to Guam, my Michael was 2, David was 1, and I was pregnant for Tessa, who was born on Guam. I thought for sure that I'd have to smack the crap out of someone for touching my babies, but once I knew the tradition, I left it alone.

As an afterthought, the Spaniards were the ones who found Guam back in the day, and the bloodlines of the island all contain at least a small amount of Spanish blood. That's why I think that the superstition might be linked.

My .02, for what it's worth.

Beth

[Kahlan]

That makes a lot of since. I asked my husband and he said that if this happens you take an egg and rubb it all over the baby then you crack it into a cup and make a cross out of toothpicks and put that on top of the egg in the cup. This will fix it somehow, and i guss depending on how the yolk of the egg looks you can tell how sick the babies soal is...... i am open to a lot of stuff but I find this a tad weird, but if thats how he is than i will rub an egg with a smile on my face.

[morrigen]

Apparently, this superstition is found in many cultures, including spanish, greek and italian...and relates to "the evil eye".
Basically the core of the superstition is the belief that sickness can be caused by someone spreading envy or jealousness (not intentionally) by praising the child...
In some cultures, the touching is replaced by the mother saying something derogatory about the child ie: Yes, she's lovely...but she's so dirty right now....
Those blue eye charms made of glass often worn by mediteranean peoples are supposed to reflect the evil eye back to the person who is unconsciously projecting it.
Interesting superstition isn't it?