One enduring tradition in China is the postpartum confinement period known as “sitting the month”, in which a new mother stays home to rest and recover following the pregnancy. And while today it is almost universally a culture undertaken by women, it has not always been that way, and Chinese men also once sat for the month. In ancient China, chan weng zhi, or “the custom of couvade”, allowed men to also go through a “postpartum recovery”. The Post investigates where this seemingly absurd tradition came from. How does it work? When men would engage in couvade, dating back as far as 60BC, they often would wear a woman’s clothing and mimic labour pains while their partner was giving birth, complete with dramatic moans and expressions of pain. After the birth, the men adhered to strict rules while sitting for the month. For instance, they were not allowed to leave the bed, needed to avoid spicy or salty foods, and refrain from any labour work except for caring for the child. The mother, who had actually given birth, would often return to work immediately and even supported the husband during their “recovery” period. This custom was once prevalent among many ethnic groups in China, including the Zhuang, Dai, and Tibetan groups. But the exact timelines are unknown. The Italian explorer Marco Polo once documented his observations of men sitting the month during his travels in southwestern China during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). He wrote that after a Dai woman gave birth, she would resume her usual work while her husband went to bed for 40 days. During this period, the husband would receive good wishes from relatives and friends. Why did men “sit the month”? Scholars suggest that this practice emerged during the transition from matriarchal to patriarchal societies. In matriarchal societies, where women had higher status and dominated societal roles, men were in a subordinate position, and family trees followed the mother’s lineage. However, as men gradually became breadwinners and their status improved, they sought to change the situation by asserting their significance in childbearing. As a result, men pretended to “sit the month”, symbolising “I am the one giving birth, and the child should bear my surname,” to emphasise their primary role in child-rearing. Legend also said that by “sitting the month”, men could attract evil spirits that might harm postpartum women, thus protecting their wives and ensuring their ability to nurture the newborn. The prevalence of the custom The custom of couvade was not unique to China. According to Farong Xiao, assistant professor at Xian Shiyou University, anthropologists have found evidence of similar practices in East Asia, the Pyrenees Mountains in France, northeastern South America, and the North American plateau. The Ainus ethnic group from Japan and some tribes in southern India also practised it. In southern India, there is a tradition where the husband wears colourful women’s clothing and lies on a recliner next to his wife during childbirth, tossing and turning as if experiencing the pain of labour until the baby is born. However, in modern times, couvade has largely vanished in China.
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