孤齿食姑米

今天偶然因为堂哥的一封信了解到了台湾的民俗

From Brian
ying yue, alex is growing his first tooth! we can see a little white spot on his lower gum. according to taiwan tradition, that is called a "lonely tooth" (gu ya) - as normally baby has two teeth growing on lower gum at the same time - his aunt (gu) has to do something. since you are his aunt (gu), so it falls on you! the tradition goes that you have to buy him a pair of shoes and a bag of rice. don't ask me why. Daphne does not know why either. so for the good of alex's other tooth (on his lower gum), would you be a kind aunt and buy (and send ) him a pair of shoes (for 6-12 month baby or slightly bigger) and a small bag of rice (in case you wonder, any type of rice will do and it really only needs to be a very small bag). you can even put the rice bag inside one of his shoes!)Thanks a million!(on behalf of alex).

大概就这么回事，外甥长了颗孤牙他们很紧张，轮到姑姑我捎鞋子和米避灾。

百度“台湾 孤牙 鞋子 米”只有一条搜索结果，毫无帮助，Google倒是有一摞：
原帖

婴儿成长过程中，长牙齿时的忌讳处理。一般所谓「七坐、八爬、九发牙」是描述小孩子初期成长发展阶段，大约七个月会坐起，八个月会爬行，九个月开始长牙齿，通常一次长二颗牙，但如果有一次长一颗时，称为「孤齿」，传统以为这是一种不正常的现象，因而心生恐惧，可能是「孤」跟「姑」同音，所以要请小孩的姑姑洗米，将洗米水煮沸冲泡牛奶给婴儿喝，就是「水米」；也有人是将泡过水的米煮成稀饭给婴儿吃；还有一说是要姑姑买奶粉给婴儿吃。。而如果婴儿后脑勺头发长得稀少，都集中在头顶的地方，有明显的一条界线，即俗谓「生孤路」，一般观念担心这样的小孩会「走孤路」，要由姑姑买鞋送小孩穿，这就是所谓的「生孤路，穿姑鞋；发孤齿，食姑米」。

***

看了Body of Lies，Leo的演技日益成熟，变得很有味道了！Do not lie to me. Trust me. 这些话在葫芦里卖的不知是啥药的国度里都是一个意思，whatever!

非常期待The Curious Case of Benjamin Button，讲的是一个生下来就80多岁，外貌（岁数）越活越小，思想却逐渐变老的特异人。生物钟倒走的人生旅途中，只有步入“中年”才表里一致？那当他入土的时候就是字面意义的返老还童了。