The Birds and the Bees Trivia Quiz

Answer: Turkey

Well, it certainly couldn't hurt, that's for certain. These lovely Turkish beliefs also came with the stricture that the mother to be should avoid looking at monkeys, bears or camels, and was not to eat sheep's head, fish or rabbit. Avoiding eating a sheep's head would certainly have been no sacrifice.

The future mother was also advised to avoid looking at a deceased person, and to stay away from funerals. All these beliefs circumvented the possibility of a negative birth experience.

Answer: Eggs

They've got to be kidding. Eating an egg in the last stages of labour when you feel like you're delivering a melon? To ensure a baby that was healthy and happy, the Japanese also believed that, over the course of the pregnancy, the woman should eat fish, tofu, soup and fresh vegetables, and concentrate on positive thinking, images and music. Jolly sensible advice! During the process of giving birth, however, they stressed there should be as little noise as possible. Once again, they had to be kidding.

There's nothing wrong with a healthy holler, I say. Especially from the hen.

Answer: Hammering nails

The Chinese also believed that working with glue would cause birth complications. That's rather interesting really and could have some basis in scientific fact. Foul language was also to be avoided or the child would be cursed, and eating foods such as pineapple or other sharp substances was believed to cause miscarriages.

Answer: The angel of death

This faith also believed that women in labour were in mortal danger. They do not state, however, whether this was to themselves, or by them to any foolhardy husband who assured them that giving birth was easy. Many Orthodox Jews share this opinion today.

The names are announced at specific times following the birth, boys at circumcision and girls on the first Sabbath morning after birth.

Answer: Walnuts

Particularly so, if the walnuts were black. This culture also believed that eating raccoon or pheasant would result in a sick child, and eating speckled trout would cause birthmarks. In addition to this, they believed that if the pregnant woman wore anything around her neck, the baby may be strangled with the umbilical cord, and lingering in any doorway would slow the birth process. Get out of that doorway quickly, ladies! Another interesting Cherokee ritual was that telling frightening stories to the unborn child would scare it out of the womb on time.

Answer: Eclipse

Poor tiny little things, thankfully there's no scientific basis to this belief. These people also believed that if a woman wore a red string around her stomach, this would prevent this birth defect occurring. Chamomile tea, they stated, would ensure an easy delivery, but drinking milk during pregnancy caused large infants and hard births.

Here's one excellent belief from this culture. They stated that a pregnant woman's cravings should be satisfied to prevent the possibility of birth marks. Ladies would all thoroughly approve of that, birth mark or no birth mark.

Answer: Red chilies

This culture also believed that if a woman fell pregnant, she had to announce this fact to the elders of her family by eating mango in front of them. How odd, why not just tell them? However, there's rather a lovely appealing image to this quaint belief, and, as it does no harm, then why not? These people thought that burning camphor, as well as chilies, would also help avert the evil eye, and, strangely enough, they also held the same belief regarding eclipses and birth defects as did the Hispanics.

Answer: Mirror

So the belief goes with these two groups of people, if a pregnant woman looks into a mirror and she looks prettier than usual, then the baby is a boy. However, if she looks like something the cat has dragged in, then the baby will be a girl. What piffle. All pregnant women look beautiful, mirror or no mirror.

Answer: Coal

It is not stated whether women craved this substance to actually consume it, or whether, given the climate in that country, they were just feeling jolly cold, chaps. Today, however, the common sense Brits believe that any craving during pregnancy is a fallacy, and merely an excuse to eat ice cream at midnight. Hmmm, that's just a tad insulting to women. Cravings during pregnancy are very real indeed. Just as an example of this: When I was pregnant with my first child, I simply had to have strawberries and lamb's fry. Yet, I truly detest both those foods at any other time and won't eat them under any circumstances.

Answer: The fifth month of pregnancy

Until that fifth month, they believed, the child's spirit existed in the Dreaming. The Dreaming, in aboriginal lore, is a supernatural world, apart from our linear based one, which has always existed, and always will. Come the fifth month of pregnancy, so the belief went, when the mother began to experience the unborn child's movements in her womb, that is when the spirit of the child came to dwell on this earth.