Welcoming Modern, Laotian-American Babies With Phithi Baci

http://www.laopress.com/news/custom/soukhouane/index.htm

http://thelaotiancommotion.com/2011/10/04/how-lao-people-welcome-a-baby-humnoys-poukhan/

For the modern Laotian-American baby birth blessing, a good gift would be:

Fresh fruit baskets

Orchid flowers

Sewing materials for eco-friendly, infant nappies, nursery quilts

Disposable newborn, size one diapers, with unscented wipes
(A three month supply, so the mother won't have to run too many errands right after the baby's birth)

A party kit for celebrating the baby's pending arrival, and birth

A Buddhist head statue

Monthly care packages, to make sure the pregnant mother is nurtured, protected from any possible harm, such as domestic violence and cared for by the entire community

Rice bowls

A new rice cooker

A roast duck, chicken or turkey meal

Organic, brown, jasmine rice

Eggs (fresh chicken eggs, boiled, peeled, quail eggs in cans)

Fresh bunches of mini-bananas (2 complete hands of them)

A scented candle, organic soy or beeswax, traditionally white, or yellow-colored

A red, and white wine bottle in wine gift bags
(A traditional housewarming or hostess gift in many cultures, just have the wine store owner choose which to get, if you're unfamiliar with wine selection)

Baby furniture, clothing, stroller, swing, and nursery accessories

Baby bottles, angled for easier digestion, nursing/breastfeeding supplies if the mother's breastfeeding
(If not, get a gift card to Costco or Sam's Club for infant formula)

For many families, a trip to the Laotian-American, Buddhist Temple is important, so the community can bless the entire family with friendship, social support, resources, meditation, mentoring and loving-kindness.

Laotian culture is gentle, with spirituality principles which are from Buddhism and animism. The intricacies of welcoming a baby with a Phithi Baci ceremony shows how warmly they're cherished, as they hold the community together. The threads knotted in the middle symbolize how they keep our community strong, centered, and balanced spiritually.

***Silk plants with large, green (resembling banana tree leaves) leaves, orchids and bamboo baskets of decorative red balls reminiscent of apples, along with bringing eggs over are a modern adaptation of Phithi Baci. Thread, reususable nappy fabrics, a Buddhist head statue are also part of modern, Laotian- American, Phithi Baci.

As our community receives babies, much of Southeast Asian cultures welcomes them and their important, pregnant/nursing mothers with traditional layettes, fresh fruit and flowers. Just like the Christianing ceremonies, there are traditional Laotian Buddhist ones performed at the Laotian Buddhist Temple. Learning meditation, being mentored by the gentle, loving monks (for me, at the D.C. Buddhist Temple) are part of Southeast Asian culture.***

Although unusual, in Southeast Asia, stampeding elephants, anaconda snakes, and violent primates can attack the children in the rural villages, so the rural, Southeast Asian way is to gather for monthly Phithi Baci celebrations to nurture, protect, welcome and account for the village babies, including the pregnant mothers.

In the South (of the U.S.), it's similar to shouting out/verbally confronting what depraved Satanic worshippers have endangered society at both the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores and church.

At the same time that we're designing prenatal, fondant cake pops, we all need to switch to being assertive and pointing out who won't be allowed to threaten the baby's spirit at pregnancy, birth, or afterwards. This will open doors of opportunities for Laotian-American, feminist babies of all ages.

This is perfectly acceptable behavior for modern, Laotian-American feminists, as it exemplifies a fire and brimstone, Southern Baptist, holy spirit, which we're all going to need for blessing the baby with, in order to raise a future, feminist law enforcement officer.  Phithi Baci involves remembering every pregnant/nursing mother as the true reality of Maya Angelou's poem, "Phenomenal Woman."

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178942