Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Pee Pipe

Trust me when I say you don't even want to pretend to be smoking one of these things. The purpose of this trinket is to direct urine and save on diaper changes.

Actually the Uyghur cradle, also called a bixuk plays a major role in the culture. These cradles are made of wood and are carved to be both beautiful and practical. Forty days after a child is born there is a special ceremony for him or her in which they are placed in the cradle for the first time. A child will spend much of the next two years tied into the bixuk, which is why is it often called the second bosom for Uyghurs.

As I said the baby is tied into the bed, they claim that it will help legs and arms to grow straight. His parents usually wind cloth about two meters long around the sleeping baby. This allows parents to do other things around the farm after the baby has fallen asleep, because there is no fear of them falling out. The pee pipe also negates the need to take the child out for changing and such.
To our western way of thinking it may sound a little barbaric, but it has been working well for the Uyghur people for generations.

3 comments:

~ Amanda ~ said...

wow, thanks for the cultural lesson. so interesting.

SouthAsiaRocks said...

Whoa! That's crazy!! I love interesting cultural things!

Anonymous said...

You're right....it does sound a bit crazy, but that crib is absolutely gorgeous!!!