A Tribe in Africa

One of my son's friends is from Africa. I never understood why his birth date was so obscure. I'd ask him, "When is your birthday?" He couldn't really answer my question.

I read this article and his lack of knowing his birthday is understandable now. That is if things were the same where he was born.

Source

Some tribes in Africa do not celebrate a child's birthday from the day they were born. They don't even celebrate from the time the child was conceived. Instead they celebrate the child's birthday from the time the child was first thought about in the the Mother's mind.

When a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it.

When the Mother is pregnant, the Mother teaches that child’s song to the women of the village, so that when the child is born, the women around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child gets hurt someone picks it up and sings its song to him or her.

I find this to be interesting!

It can be argued when a child is a life form. I know when I felt kicks, and heard a heart beating inside me that someone special was inside me. I knew with my oldest that I was pregnant before a stick or doctor could tell me so. My whole body just felt different. Every pregnancy is different. With my second child I didn't feel very different at all. We were trying to conceive, I missed a period and took a test. It came up positive. You'd think by my second child my body would be in tuned with what pregnancy feels like. With my second pregnancy I felt when my baby had hiccups, and when he moved way before I could with my first. Again every pregnancy is different.

When did you know you were pregnant? Did you know before a test, after a test, after a doctor told you, or not until the birth of your baby (That happens to.)?