I have heard of people burying their dead cat or burying sugar under a fruit tree so that it will bear sweet fruits. This latest is a new one to me what actor, Mathew McConaughey is planning to do.
I read on MSN that Mr McConaughey plans to plant his son's placenta from the July birth in an orchard. That's what he told CNN in an interview. McConaughey says he hopes it will fertilize the land, a ritual long followed in several cultures.
"It's going to be in the orchards and it's going to bear some wonderful fruit," he says, according to an interview transcript. "When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river ... and all the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength.
"This tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it. It was gorgeous."
His son is named Levi Alves McConaughey, the mother being Camilla Alves.
The trend in the West these days is to name the child with both the parents' last names or surnames as we call them here. Would this ever happen in the Chinese culture? What do you think?
I don't think the Chinese will embrace this idea of having both parents' last names as surnames. Chinese culture is steeped in the belief that males perpetuate the family line whereas girls are "married off" to other families.
ReplyDeletei think as long it makes both parties happy then its ok...
ReplyDeleteMBL, it's hard to say as traditions can get thinned out over generations and future Chinese folks may adopt that practice, afterall it's easy to tell which is the mom's and which is the dad's surname, e.g. Happysurfer Wong Lee or Happysurfer McDonald Lee or Happysurfer Lee McDonald. I'm going nuts! LOL!
ReplyDeleteFalcon, ooh! I spoke too soon.
ReplyDeleteMBL, see what I mean? haha...
Hahha...I like Happysurfer Lee McD! I am somewhat a traditional at heart...hard to imagine having two surnames instead of taking after my dad's :)
ReplyDeleteOdd crap. Placenta plant.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of an old folk tale from the Philippines about how the mango tree came about.
As the mango is shaped a tad like a human heart, the tale has it that it came from the heart of a girl who committed suicide becos her father wanted to force her to marry a man whom she did not like.
And the mango tree grew from where she was buried.
Chinese as a strong culture and heritage based people we are, probably will not and should not follow suit. I think it's important to observe such tradition as it's what defines us.
ReplyDeleteMBL, LOL! Didn't you guess? My dad is Ronald McDonald. :p
ReplyDeleteYeah, it will be confusing too the way we spell our name here in Malaysia. Imagine I will then be McD Lee Happysurfer. What a mess!
MB, what a sad tale. I didn't know about that. Thanks.
CC, so true what you are saying.