A National Day baby boom was not seen in hospitals yesterday, as expectant mothers avoided giving birth on a day marked in the lunar calendar as a “Black Day” ─ a day of bad luck.
Chung Shan Hospital gynecologist Lee Shih-ming (李世明) said “National Day babies” used to be prevalent in Taiwan in previous years, when the hospital could welcome up to seven newborns on that day alone.
“However, that fervor has faded. This year, only two pregnant women scheduled their baby’s birth on National Day ─ one at 5am and the other at 7am ─ both by Caesarean section,” Lee said, adding that the number was fewer than the hospital saw on other days that were marked as more auspicious.
Photo: CNA
The phenomenon was also seen at Taipei City Hospital, where only two women chose to arrange Caesarean section births yesterday.
Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch chief medical officer Lin Chen-li (林陳立) attributed the situation to expectant mothers’ growing inclination to select the day of birth based on either the lunar calendar or the “birth chart” of their fetus.
A birth chart is said to be able to provide in-depth analysis of a person’s basic disposition and future aspirations based on their time of birth and given names.
Taipei-based Wan Fang Hospital said that while the hospital welcomed about six National Day babies last year, whether born naturally or through Caesarean section, no women scheduled a Caesarean section birth on National Day this year.
Fortune-teller Tsai Shang-chi (蔡上機) said this year’s National Day was a good day only for bringing offerings to gods and ancestors, tearing down houses and bathing before becoming a monk or nun, and was a bad day for everything else.
“[A day marked as] a Black Day is unsuitable for childbirths and has no effect whatsoever on the baby’s birth chart,” Tsai said.
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