PEDIATRICS Vol. 53 No. 2 February 1974, pp. 169
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A FEW BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDREN IN THE MEDICAL FOLKLORE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS

T. E. C. Jr. M.D.

The medical folklore of the Pennsylvania Germans is rich with suggestions for the care of children. Although modem medicine continues to supplant folk beliefs of disease and folkways of diagnosis and cure in the lives of the Pennsylvania Germans, nonetheless folk beliefs still linger on.

A few former beliefs about the care of children are these1:

A fretful baby longs for some certain food for which its mother wished in vain during pregnancy. The only remedy is to discover the nature of the food and to give the child a taste of it. To forestall such fretfulness a husband will do all in his power to gratify the fitful desires of his wife.

A child will cease to grow if it is stepped over; if it crawls through an open window, or between the legs of a chair or table; however if it crawls back the same way its growth will not be interrupted.

A cat left alone with a sleeping baby will endeavor to rob it of its breath. An aged person sleeping with a young child will absorb its vitality.

A child will have lofty thoughts if a louse is placed on its head and it is carried to the upper story of the house before it is nine months old.

A fretful unbaptized child cries for a name; a child that cries during baptism is displeased with its name; will become a great singer or preacher; a face washed with baptismal water will become very beautiful.1