Are They Out Of Their Minds?? Baby Tossing Ritual
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
May 2, 2008 2:08am CST
Okay the roving reporter here. I just saw this on a re-broadcast on my news about this baby tossing ritual
Here's part of the article I found about this
(Quote)
.."Everyone hopes to have a healthy baby, but some parents in India literally go to great heights bring their kids good health!
Worshippers at this Muslim shrine in western India drop babies from a tower for good luck. The babies are tossed from the tower onto a cloth sheet more than 50 feet below.
This 500-year-old ritual is thought to bring the children good health. People say there have never been any accidents...."
Link to article and video
http://www.localnews8.com/global/story.asp?s=8258101
I mean sure it's nice to have some kind of ritual to bring a newborn baby good luck...but isn't this stretching it a bit...to throw a baby off a 50 foot roof? YIKES!
9 people like this
35 responses
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
2 May 08
Well... I suppose it is a good way to find out if he is going to be lucky.
If he survives the fall... he is lucky.
If he does not... it would have been a waste of time bringing him up. 
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
I don't know why this popped in my head, but is sort of reminiscent of how back in the "burning" times one of the means to test a person for witchcraft...they used to dunk people tied to a pole under water...if the person drowned they weren't witches...LOL
1 person likes this
@slothgurl (569)
• Enumclaw, Washington
2 May 08
I honestly did not know what to think when I saw that. All those people seemed OK with it, and the babies didn't look distressed or anything. But would I be able to do it when my son was a baby?, ABSOLUTELY NOT!! YIKES is right!! #:)
2 people like this
@slothgurl (569)
• Enumclaw, Washington
3 May 08
Yes, I did notice that! I know if it was me, someone probably would have had to sedate me and lock me up somewhere!! #:)
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
You're right no one seemed distressed by it..but did you notice there weren't any women watching the baby tossing? Where was the mother for instance?
1 person likes this
@shmeedia (1044)
• Canada
3 May 08
why hasn't anyone thought about the whiplash the child could sustain? you aren't even supposed to leave a newborn's head unsupported through the first few months of its life!!! imagine the poor thing being launched several feet off a building!!
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
I know shmeedia...a young baby like that could suffer so many internal injuries as a result of such a fall, not just whiplash
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
5 May 08
OMG I could not believe it when I first read it. How the babies don't end up with health problems from it I don't know. You would think it would be something like "shaking baby syndrome" unless somehow they don't bounce at all once in the clothe.
I wouldn't want to risk it with my newborn. I know my luck, I'd mess it up somehow. I wouldn't want to take the chance, let alone if someone down below drops the clothe. This is way too risky in my opinion.@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
7 May 08
Not just the child, what about the mother? I'd be frantic if someone went to drop my baby off a roof. That has to scar her as well.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
I saw other videos of this..and saw the baby when it landed...it was crying up a storm...I can't help wonder if a baby gets some kind of psychological trauma from that experience
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 May 08
I never see ANY women involved with any of these rituals...it's all men
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
3 May 08
All I can say, the women who toss their babies off a tower can get pregnant very easily. If they had a hard time, they would think twice about doing it and substitute a doll instead. I suppose the disasters they claim are the babies that were still born. I could not understand why someone would do this. It is dangerous.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
3 May 08
My mistake. Still the same, I wonder if the reason they started the ritual was to see if the infant could survive. Then it became part of their religious practices. Sort of like taking the traditions of their elders and saying that God told them to do it. I would bet if a baby slipped, that would be kept out of the news.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
3 May 08
Well it's not the women tossing the babies...this is a ritual in some parts of India that they've been doing for 500 years and it's the men who do the tossing--you never see the women involved in this ritual
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
2 May 08
well..i guess if they don't go splat,that could be considered good luck.yikes..i think i'd rather let my kid take his or her chances in life without the ritual.that's just too risky.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
3 May 08
exactly.
and my kitty?never.
you have to wonder where they get these ideas sometimes.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
I think there are a lot more safer "rituals" one can do to bring luck to a baby...uh, not tossing off 50 feet..yikes wouldn't even think to do that to a kitty!
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
2 May 08
This one is a bit scary for me, but they say there have never been any accidents, and I assume the babies are okay? Babies have no fear at that age, they develop depth perception around 6 months old.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
4 May 08
it is strange to us because it is not our custom, but there must be many customs we have that are strange to people in the east.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
Well maybe babies don't have any sense of depth perception, but I remember reading somewhere that the earliest fears humans develop is that of heights and of falling...so this is really strange don't you think to do this ritual?
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
I wonder how someone came up with this idea in the first place?
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 May 08
Yup--it's in India--wonder if they do this elsewhere though
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
Yes it is barbarous and just because it was some ritual done some centuries ago, doesn't make it right to do it in this day and age...it be just as barbarous as if we decided to round up cats for Shrove Tuesday and burn them alive like they did in Louis XIVth day..
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
4 May 08
I saw that too, Pye, several times and each time my heart was in my throat even though I knew the baby was going to be OK. Who in the he11 ever came up with such a crazy "ritual"? I know they SAY there's never been a baby injured but 500 years ago we didn't have TV news or videos to prove it!
Annie
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
I begin to wonder where and how a lot of strange ritual began and like gee who thought it up?
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
Makes you glad you were born here and not there doesn't it??
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
I know it is scary...nuts, I wouldn't even think to toss a kitty let alone a human baby like that
1 person likes this
@jairgirl (2877)
• United States
2 May 08
hello pye,
my husband show that news online to me last night. i do opposed such thing but there is no way they will listen to me nor anybody outside their country coz that is their culture as well as a known ritual. i think in some area in asia they toss the baby in river or sea to make sure they will learn how to survive (something like that).
there are so many crazy rituals in the world (mostly in asia) and i dont agree to most of them coz i feel it is not safe at all, but i guess they have perfected it coz it's been done for so many hundreds of years LOL (remember practice makes perfect, haha)
if i am the mom i wouldnt let my baby be thrown to make sure he gets lucky, i will let him know how to survive and teach him that luck only works if you add hard works on it.
takecare!
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 May 08
I suppose in our country too, we may have "rituals" that may seem bizarre to the rest of the world...right now can't think of any..LOL...Still these type rituals have the potential of real harm...just because so far there haven't been any accidents doesn't mean their won't be somewhere along the line
@jairgirl (2877)
• United States
4 May 08
that is very true, some urban areas dont have tv available or they are not known in the world so we cannot tell if no accident ever happen yet.
oh well, i just hope that accidents is not a common thing in rituals like this and some other rituals.
takecare and have a great weekends!
1 person likes this
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
4 May 08
I just watched the video and it scared me to pieces. Those poor babies are being tramutised by this. I agree that yes we all want our children to have good luck but that is taking our childrens lives a bit too far. The thing that they are figuring on sn that IF the child lands on the cloth that it is good luck and the ghild will continue to have that good luch. But in the case that the child dosnt land on the cloth that means that..that child already had bad luck and basically....ooh well.
Just the thought makes my blood boil.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
Yes I can't help wondering if those babies suffer some kind of psychological trauma from that kind of thing
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
•
3 May 08
it is certainly a worry that this sort of thing is still going on, lol i can well imagine it being preserved as a cultural exhibit by the world wide herritage preservation. Oh my god it looks scary
blessed be
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
I just think some traditions should be abandoned though..seems a bit barbaric
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
3 May 08
I read that, I think it was yesterday...that is abuse to say the least. What if something did happen to a chid..that would be murder. It is barbaric.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
Yes if something did happen to the baby it would be murder
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
3 May 08
I'm surprised there were no accidents. After all, a 50-foot drop like that could break their neck, back, anything. Noooooooo thank you. I'll keep mine in my arms.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
I wouldn't even think of tossing a kitty off a 50-foot drop...
@dizzblnd (3073)
• United States
3 May 08
I just saw that too. My jaw dropped. I don't understand the thousands year old cultures and traditions other countries have. I wonder if they think its horrible that we DON'T throw our babies off a 50ft roof? They SAY there has never been any accidents.. but no one will ever really know outside of the people in the ritual. I don't think they be reporting that. If so, they might just choose to say that that baby was destined to be sick and it was for the best
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
Kind of reminds you of the idiotic way people used to test other people as being witches during the "burning" times.. One ritual was to tie a person on a pole then dunk them in water...if they drowned it proved they weren't a witch....like duh?
@rawat2500 (80)
• India
3 May 08
every local soceity has its own culture and for outsiders its just an idiotic practise.
So just chill that there culture and practises why u are so concerned about it.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 May 08
Yes every culture does have it's own practices...but this has the potential of harming a baby and is an outdated type of custom that just doesn't belong in this time...just because it was done 500 years ago, doesn't mean it should be done now
