Baby Showers?

Just had an incredibly interesting conversation with my counterpart about Armenian cultures and traditions. I think I wrote on this blog before that I will be an aunt soon! I am so excited and cant believe it... it's almost unreal!

We were talking about what happens when a baby is born and the way that it is celebrated. She was telling me that Armenians tend to be superstitious and don't celebrate until after the baby is born. After the baby is born they have a party to celebrate. I didn't get all of the details, but I thought it was interesting. I was telling her about how we have baby showers before the baby is born, usually a month or so before they come along. I also mentioned that it usually is just women who attend this shower. She thought that it was a little odd that men don't participate in the celebration.

It got me thinking about gender and culture. It is interesting that at the Armenian baby 'shower,' families show up and it would kind of be the equivalent to a birthday party for the new baby. Where as in America, we celebrate before the baby is even born and then it is mostly the women... hmmm... I think we should transfer over to the Armenian way of celebrating the birth of a baby!

Just a random thought...