#Zhuazhou

[nerdpokemonheadcanons]

There’s an old fortune telling ritual in Johto where you place items representing different careers in front of your baby to try and predict their future.

Some parents nowadays will use plushies of starter Pokemon instead.

[k-star-holic]

Lee Jung-hyun's Park Yu-jung's Daughter SeoA Caught Stethoscope in Doljanchi: Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant

[pinkeos]

Dad!Jing Yuan Headcanons

Warning/s: None

Notes: i'm quite busy today and the next following days so my work might be shorter than they used to sorry😭

jing yuan gives out chill girl dad energy

it was already a bit rowdy in the house with you, his spouse, and yanqing, his first child. imagine having adding another member of the family

dad!jing yuan would be affectionate with his daughter, like he'd often carry her, cradling her and placing kisses on her soft cheeks every now and then. he’d reason that it wouldn't be long before she'd grow up and he wouldn't be able to baby her anymore

he'd hold her close, napping with her curled up on his chest. many would comment ‘like father, like daughter’ with how often they'd nap together

dad!jing yuan would bring his child to the seat of divine foresight, placing her on his lap as he worked. sometimes, he'd procrastinate and start playing with her, ignoring the way his counselor looked at him, begging him to go back to work

people of the luofu came to love your daughter with how much dad!jing yuan proudly talked about her and showed her around, the baby girl was incredibly adorable, too

at her first birthday, a zhuazhou took place which was a traditional ceremony where the parents would place several items that symbolizes career choices or personality traits before the child, whichever item the child picked would be used to foresee their future

dad!jing yuan wouldn’t mind whatever his child picked. like, he'd allow her to pick whatever she wanted as long as she was happy. heck, he strayed from the career path his family expected him to trek so he'd totally understand

but then, during the ceremony, instead of picking up an item, your child cried and immediately reached out to her father. this made him chuckle as he picked her up, rubbing her back as he commented, ‘seems like she still wants to be daddy’s little girl’ to which you rolled your eyes playfully

big brother yanqing!! the boy would be so happy to have a little sister. the lieutenant would vow to be a great sword champion and protect the luofu so that his little sister could live in peace and be safe

once she's old enough to go out and play, she'd often be seen tailing yanqing which was an adorable sight that never failed to warm your heart

her, yanqing, and jing yuan would play starchess with the little girl on her father’s lap. jing yuan would coach her in which pieces to use and where to place them. sometimes, you'd join them and help yanqing which often led to lighthearted competitiveness and playful banter

sometimes, though, you'd hear both your children whine and complain about their father stealing the pieces again

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Birthday Magic!!

Hello friends!! June is my birthday month (today being my birthday), so I thought I would take us through all the magical significance of a birthday, and include some exclusive spells, divination, and more than I like to do as my birthday approaches!! Your birthday is special, take some time to celebrate yourself!!! Whether you are with family or friends, or celebrating on your own, you have a lot to be excited for! Lets get started

What is the cultural significance of a birthday?

Before calendars were invented it was really hard to remember when someone may have been born, but it is said to have started in ancient Egypt where birthday parties were held to celebrate the commemoration of the new pharaoh! In the pagan world it was said that someone had a spirit present with them on the day of their birth and was said to help guide them through life, which is how the spirit guide was born!

Birthdays first started a form of protection, in ancient Greece they were the first to celebrate with birthday candles as a way to ward off evil spirits who would come during major events! The candles, friends, and good vibes were a way to protect the birthday person!

In ancient china, the first birthday was considered the most special, and was celebrated with a special ritual called 'Zhuazhou' where a cloth was placed in front of the baby with different objects and from there the baby and its family would see the future ahead!

The modern birthday, as we know it, is actually partially German who began adding cakes, candles, and eventually in the united states a pair of Kentucky school teachers came up with the birthday song after remixing it from a song called 'Good morning to all' and now we have the modern birthday!

How can I honor my own birthday?

Understand your birthday superstitions! Do you find yourself feeling more spiritual on your birthday? How about fending off bad luck if you were born on friday the 13th? Understanding your birthday traditions can help you connect more to new magical traditions that work for you

Understand what your birthday represents to you. When we get older, for some people birthdays can fill us with all sorts of emotions. Some people get excited and throw big parties, for some birthdays are really tender and sources of anxiety so its important to seek out friends and family. Understanding what your birthday corresponds too can be really important for how you choose to celebrate

Understand that you are human. Above all else, honor the fact that you are still standing, that you are here on this earth, and that you did it. It is a big achievement to be still here, and I am so proud of you. Take some time to be proud of yourself my love

Lets talk practices!

Lets go into common rituals, correspondences, tarot spreads, and more!

Practices:

When you blow out candles on a cake reflect on your wish and the history of that tradition

When singing the birthday song, add fun in-between's like "Cha cha cha" to welcome spirits of prosperity

Begin a journal, consecrate an altar or book of shadows, or deep clean your spiritual space for a total energetic refresh

Practice self care and open all those fancy soaps. Practice glamour magic with saved items for an energetic boost

Create a potion using mint, chamomile, and lemongrass for career and academic successes. This potion refreshes your mind and uses birthday energy for renewal

Create spells with renewal, celebration, and reflection in mind

design a spell using your birthdays moon phase and moon sign

Create a blessings spell for the year

Create a crystal grid that represents you and things that make you feel good like colors, energies, and shapes

Practice birthday rituals your ancestors would have practiced

Look up the moon phase and sign and design a birthday ritual with that in mind

Wear favorite colors to represent your sense of self and stability into the next year

Iris's Birthday Seed Spell:

Ingredients:

A pot

a seed of your choice (preferably ones in season on your birthday)

soil

The Steps:

On the bottom of the pot draw a sigil of prosperity and fortune

around the pot, write down goals you have for yourself

as you plant the seeds focus on your intentions for the year ahead and cover them with soil

OPTIONALLY add crystals like moss agate, tree agate, or pyrite on top of the soil for an energetic boost

As you tend to the plant, remember to tend to your dreams

Divination:

Compare and contrast todays astrological chart with the one from your day of birth

Find out what your birth card is and what it means for you

Use a pendulum around your house to find lost objects you may have forgotten about this year

Get yourself a new divination tool

Practice divination your ancestors would have used

Create a shufflemancy playlist by taking the top song on the charts every year on your birthday, then setting it to shuffle.

Calculate your life path number

Symbols:

Cake

candles

Favorite foods, items, and colors

Birth stones, cards, flowers, numbers, and signs

Flowers in general

Large gatherings

Birthchart sigils

Personal Symbols

Mundane:

Remember, Birthdays are filled with a lot of emotions for people. Some people are very excited to celebrate, and others may be stressed, experience feelings of depression, and regret. It is valid to feel any type of way, make sure you are feeling it! On your birthday seek out your support system, whether its friends, family, or teams. They want to celebrate you with you!

Another thing is actually take this time to celebrate you! This is a time to honor another rotation around the sun, it is valid to reflect on anything that comes up for you. Remember that you are not alone, and you are loved very much. Birthdays are special, even if we try to deny it sometimes. Birthdays are special, because you make them special!

If its not your birthday, and you have a friend or family members coming up, it costs nothing to make someones day with a simple text, happy birthday gif, or some time to just sit down and chat. Take care of your friends, as they take care of you. That friend may be excited to host a party, or that friend may want to be left alone, However they choose to celebrate is unique and valid. Make sure that they feel appreciated just like you would want to feel appreciated.

With that said, Here are a few ideas for how to celebrate your birthday in a mundane way, and some tips for birthday wellness

Ideas:

Host a small get together for your friends and family

Reflect on your past in the morning, Honor your present in the afternoon, and dream about your future in the evening

Enjoy your favorite meal

Try your hand at something new like painting, ceramics, or glass blowing

Get yourself a present

Rest!!! Catch up on your favorite show

Take an 'everything' shower

Relax with your favorite beverage

Enjoy a trail with your pets or just get active

Enjoy time out of the house people watching

Put the phone, work, and academia down, be present with yourself

Well with that said, i hope you all have enjoyed! Happy birthday to you, and I hope you have a prosperous journey around the sun once more!

Tip Jar

[savstan1]

sqh & his son. do you guys ever wonder about what binghe would have picked if he had his uhhh zhuazhou? like do you think if he was able to grow up with his parents and/or not have his life start so early with strife he would’ve chose a brush? anyways!

[strawberriesbunni]

I want to schedule a zhuazhou/doljanchi for Sua in the near future since she’s almost 1. Zhuazhou/doljanchi is a celebration in China/Korea where children on their first birthday get blessings for their future and to live a long, healthy life. When I was younger, I had a zhuazhou and I think I picked up either money or a calculator. It has been a while, I can’t remember. I thought it’d be cute for Sua to partake in this tradition too

I’ve got a couple of items to use when she picks her “future”:

Microphone = singer/musician

Stethoscope = doctor/medicine

Hamburger toy = chef

Stack of Cash = wealth

Book = teacher/scholar/writer

Gavel = judge/lawyer

Camera = photography

Abacus = accountant/businessperson

I’m still working out modifying the objects so she can pick them up. So far, only the first half she can pick up.

[hikaruchen]

For the artist ask, 2 and 15? :0

HELLO AHANZJMEAL THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!!! It’s cringe to admit but I’m a bit thirsty for asks lol so LET’S GO!

2. How long have you been drawing?

Oh since time out of mind I guess XD I’ve probably been drawing since the moment I knew how to pick up a pen. In the place I live there’s a tradition called 抓周 (Zhuazhou, literally means picking things when the anniversary comes). When a baby is one year old their parents will hold this ceremony, put various objects around them and make them pick whatever they want. The first thing they pick will forecast this kid’s future, and iirc my mom told me I did pick a pen lol

But it was when I was in elementary school that I really started to want to improve myself (what can I say, I started watching animes and got into yaoi…) so there’s been…more than ten years! Time flies!

15. How long does an average piece take you to complete?

I think it depends on which state of my life I’m in…I find myself drawing extremely fast if I’m preparing some big-ass exams because, like, anything other than the exam itself seems to be more fun especially when you have no choice but to move your ass to study for them, right? Lol but otherwise I’m a slow-y artist and normally it takes 15-28 hours for a full color piece from start to finish :3

ARTIST ASKS

Thanks for the ask and feel free to ask more!!! <3

[quietasfire]

bruh i just unlocked a childhood memory of watching my sister do the. that ceremony when she turned 1 years old and picked an item to foretell her future. i only know the dialect name but i googled it and its called 抓周 zhuazhou apparently. i dont remember what she actually chose but i remember her eating the chicken thigh that was an option very enthusiastically lmao

[julio-claudian-saberface]

Baby Jesus's zhuazhou.

(The Man Born to be King: Kings in Judaea, Dorothy Sayers)

[bedofrosesfamily]

Juniper turned a year old last Friday. She celebrated this milestone with many of her friends, receiving what she now supposes to be a weekly allotment of gifts.

We were given a Zhuazhou set from my friend Todd. This is a Chinese tradition in which a baby is presented with an array of objects on their first birthday, each symbolizing a future career choice. She selected a ball, which foretells of her becoming an athlete, followed by an abacus (business) and a brush pen (writer).

Our future athlete spent the weekend with her friend Cyrus and their parents Scott and Jess. She and Cyrus clung together as much as possible, getting into no shortage of mischief.

Our New Year's Eve was refreshingly gremlin-free thanks to Jeri and Bill, which gave us the chance to get into some mischief of our own.

This week Junebug joined a nanny share with a very sweet boy named Bailey, who quickly became her newest best friend/co-conspirator.

In the meantime, she spent the first few days of 2024 training for all her careers. Her future looks bright indeed (if she can stay out of prison).

[jacensolodjo]

This zhuazhou ceremony seems a lot more involved than what I thought they were lol Like I know the kiddo supposedly predicts their occupation but I didn't think they would their choice of school. I guess since the story is set in the future they've tweaked what all happens during the ceremony

[k-star-holic]

Lee Jung-hyun, mother of daughter Doljanchi ('Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant')

[qsmpbutwithsignlanguage]

Found the name for it in the PROC (mainland China), there it's called zhua zhou or Zhuazhou. It has the exact same premise and purpose, though it dates back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Suffice to say it's been around for a while.

link to related article under cut, I might repost with more versions of this practice if I can find them:

if anyone asks i definitely didn't use obs to record the patterns and then drew the patterns down to then replicate them omg what no i didn't, who did that because i didn't (lying)

theory time:

idk why but when i look at this it reminds me of the tradition, i forget which asian country but it's definitely more than one, where when on one of the baby's birthdays they put out like, stuff that determines their future? and they let the baby crawl to whatever interests them the most and that's how it's decided. and more often than not money is present to signify that they'll be rich in the future. so when i see a cookie and a piece of gold i see "money or happiness" idk don't listen to me im crazy im delusional blehh :P

EDIT: WAIT NO IT LITERALLY IS THAT now that i look closer, cucurucho is crouched down to open it on the floor, presenting the items to someone or something, probably an egg baby!!! im assuming choosing "money" would equal "perfection" in the feds eyes but hmmm we'll see what the new egg baby chooses possibly

[blipsandbeeps]

💕 #babygirl #baby #oneyearsold #babyphotography #oneyearoldbirthday #happybirthday #chinesebaby #zhuazhou #doljabi https://www.instagram.com/p/CYXTXueP5zg/?utm_medium=tumblr

[ipple181]

抓周 #zhuazhou #oneyearsold #babyphotography #photography #taiwan #cute #fun #celebration #birthday #birthdayparty https://www.instagram.com/p/CGOuBxDAMWI/?igshid=29stl31rmaoq

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 31, part one

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

The Mayor of Simpleton

We start off with an idyllic day in the Burial Mounds. Farmers are farming, mayor Wei is farting around in his lotus patch showing off his sexy leg hair, and Wen Ning is the only fierce corpse in the vicinity. 

Everyone is wearing new clothes and there's a general sense of, if not plenty, at least sustenance. A-Yuan tries to eat a lotus seed, but these are apparently not the edible type. Wei Wuxian explains that these seeds ward off evil because they grew in the burial mounds, and that A-Yuan can carry one with him for protection.

 A-Yuan tucks it away. This is either superstitious claptrap that Wei Wuxian made up to distract A-Yuan, or it's deep magic that is the reason A-Yuan survived being left alone here. 

Wen Ning comes into the clearing sporting his new goth sugar-baby look. He’s hot with his hair down like this.   

He tells Wen Qing that a Jin cultivator delivered an invitation. It's from Lan Wangji, and it's an invite to go to Jin Ling's party. The invite says 100-days celebration, which is the normal time to have a baby party, but the dialog keeps calling it his one-month celebration. That's ok, time is meaningless in this show anyway. 

(more after the cut!)

Wen Qing is worried about this, either sensing a trap, or sensing an opportunity for Jiang Cheng and others to convince Wei Wuxian to leave the Wens to their fate. 

She puts on a happy face and gives the invite to Wei Wuxian. 

Wei Wuxian is delighted that he’s going to get to see his sister and nephew and maybe also hook up with Lan Wangji. 

Wen Qing drops her happy expression once Wei Wuxian isn’t looking at her. 

Necromancy is Hard, Let’s Go Shopping

Later, Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning head to the gift shop, where townies are gossiping about the Jin clan right at this very moment. Because there's nothing else of interest in Yiling, apparently, than very specific news about the latest births and project plans of the not-local-to-Yiling Jin clan.

The interesting bit of news is that the Jin clan wants to build observation towers. These will enable faster communication. Faster than magic messenger butterflies?

The Random Guys Talking News Network is concerned that this might be the beginning of a Wen-style power grab, and they're right to be concerned. They say that it's Jin Guangyao's idea, and mention that Nie Mingjue is one who hasn't agreed to the plan.

They also talk about this sorta-Zhuazhou ritual, to determine a baby’s future career, where Jin Ling grabbed JIn Zixuan’s sword. The new parents are doing this super early, which is good since they won’t be around for the more traditional first-birthday version. 

The items that Jin Zixuan offers the baby are a brush, a book, a sword, and a tassel, giving Jin Ling the option of becoming a scribe, a scholar, a cultivator, or an interior decorator.

Meanwhile, an extremely unconvincing Wei Wuxian body double has come into the gift shop. We only see them from the back, and the producers apparently expect us to believe this is Xiao Zhan. 

No. 

Wei Wuxian is shopping for tassels, with loving closeup camera moves that make me wonder if this is a product placement for a tassel company. 

Let's Talk About The Jins Hour continues with the ladies at the table saying what a good life Jiang Yanli has now. They conclude by saying that nothing is as good as having a good birth background, just so their conversation can be personally insulting to Wei Wuxian. Then everyone chats about how Wei Wuxian is a jerk, because they don’t know he’s right next to them. 

Wei Wuxian hears them a little ruefully, but carries on with his shopping. Growing up in the Jiang household has made him accustomed to hearing people talk shit about him. 

After he finishes shopping, Wei Wuxian shows Wen Ning the gifts he’s giving to Jin Ling. First there’s a nice tassel with a carved bead; it looks to be a lotus, similar to the bead that hangs from Chenqing. It’s in no-one’s sect colors, although it’s a green that’s pretty close to Lan Wangji’s favored blue hue. 

Wei Wuxian pets the bead in a way that...is not at all distracting. 

The more important present is a special carved string of beads that Wei Wuxian made. I think they are made from the lotus seeds he was telling A-Yuan about earlier, that are extra potent because of growing in the Burial Mounds. Wei Wuxian stops Wen Ning from touching it since they are designed to protect against things like Wen Ning. 

As they chat, Wen Ning takes the opportunity to warn Wei Wuxian that he should resist the urge to punch Jin Zixuan in the spine, or words to that effect. This is called Dramatic Irony. Wei Wuxian responds that he's grateful to Jin Zixuan for inviting him, so he won't talk bad about him for a whole year. Or, you know, forever, as it happens.

Heading for a Showdown

They set off for the party at a comfortable stroll. Everything in cultivation-land is within a square mile of everything else, yah? So people just walk between sects in the course of a morning. Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning arrive at a valley that seems perfect for an ambush, because it is perfect for an ambush. 

It’s quiet...too quiet.

Wei Wuxian asks Wen Ning if he perceives anything strange and Wen Ning reaches out with his spidey sense corpsey sense and says it seems ok. Which shows that Wen Ning’s corpsey sense is not actually useful.

Then an arrow comes flying toward Wei Wuxian's face and Wen Ning catches it. Wei Wuxian has no startle reflex. and also no gag reflex

A bunch of Jins and LANS show up on the cliff above him, pointing things at him, with Jin Zixun in the lead. Why are the Lans in on this? God damn it, he’s RIGHT not to trust them, fuck these guys. 

Because Wei Wuxian enjoys being a dick, even when his life is on the line, his first words to Jin Zixun are "who are you?" which cracks me up. 

Jin Zixun is pretty much the only person he greets this way, so he has to be fucking with him.

Jin Zixun tells him to undo the curse he put on him, which is actually....not unreasonable, if he really believes Wei Wuxian is responsible. Like, this didn't start off as a whole-ass bloodbath. If Wei Wuxian clears off the curse, Jin Zixun won’t kill him and they can go to the party. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian isn’t the perpetrator of the curse, so that's not going to work out.

Wei Wuxian points out, sexily, that when it comes to killing people he is out and proud, so he wouldn't do anything sneaky like curse a dude. 

Also he says that he doesn't bother to injure people; he's super good at actual killing, as he will be demonstrating in a couple of minutes.

Unleashing Wen Ning

Eventually the talking part is over and Jin Zixun is ready to rumble. Wei Wuxian agrees and Wen Ning promptly yanks off his orange necklace, that is apparently a restraining device. Then Wen Ning goes through a slightly hilarious and very long resentment boot-up sequence. 

During which nobody shoots him. 

So, Wei Wuxian is loveable and charming and frequently heroic, and it's impossible not to relate to him. I mean, unless you are just not into this show, in which case, reading all this is probably a hell of a chore for you.

But his use of Wen Ning is just wrong. The fact that Wen Ning doesn't mind is not the point. This guy is his friend, who is younger than him, and has a crush you can see from space.

Here, he's unleashing him deliberately to use as a weapon in this battle. He is not sheltering and protecting Wen Ning, who is what I'd call "medically complex" at this point. He's flinging him with maximum force at his enemies, which is not awesome of him.

That said, I do love me some angry ghost general. 

Wen Ning jumps up the cliff to bring the (literal) smoke to the Jin (and LAN, ugh, fuck those guys) cultivators. Jin Zixun jumps down to attack Wei Wuxian directly.

Wei Wuxian throws a talisman, made extra powerful through spinning. For some reason the camera focus is too tight to really appreciate the wire work here.

Jin Zixun successfully uses his sword to dispel the talisman attack, which looks exactly like a Despicable Me fart-gun blast.

During the fight, the gift box with the string of beads leaps out from where it is tucked in Wei Wuxian’s robe, and lands in Jin Zixun's hand. That was pretty sentient of it.

At this point Jin Zixuan arrives to find out what the fuck is going on. He yells at his cousin, who says he’ll apologize to Jiang Yanli later after he is done killing Wei Wuxian. Like...how does Jin ZIxun think that conversation would go, exactly? Does he think Jiang Yanli would stab him in the face 100 times with her hairpin? I do. 

Jin Zixun keeps arguing until he makes Zixuan mad; JZX tells him to shut up. This hurts Jin Zixun’s feelings, and he retaliates by crushing the carefully-grown-and-carved baby gift into dust. Because Wei Wuxian wasn’t angry enough already.

Wei Wuxian starts to attack with the power of flute pointing, but Jin Zixuan deflects him with the power of finger pointing.

Jin Zixuan tries really hard to talk Wei Wuxian into backing down, but Wei Wuxian reasonably points out that there is a large assassination squad just waiting to shoot arrows into him if he does. Why aren’t they trying to shoot arrows into him right now, incidentally? They can’t all be busy fighting Wen Ning. Maybe it’s because the Jins are all terrible at archery, judging by the position of these arrows. They've given up in despair.

Meanwhile, Wen Ning has suddenly grown extra irises on his eyeballs, in one of the particularly questionable special effects in this show. Later we learn that this apparently means there are two flutes controlling him. 

How does this work, exactly? 2 flutes, 2 command streams, and 1 Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian, with the Yin tiger seal, is sending the command "fuck up asshole cousin Jin Zixun" and Su She, without the Yin tiger seal (but with a golden core), is sending the command "fuck up sect heir Jin Zixuan." Why does Wen Ning follow the wrong command? Is it like a batch script where he follows each command sequentially, and Su She hit "enter" first? I'm gonna go with that.

Or maybe the idea of a second flute is ridiculous and Wei Wuxian was super mad at the Jin cousins and his own anger caused Wen Ning to act out? 

Ha ha, of course not, 2 flutes makes so much more sense. 

Soundtrack: Showdown by Electric Light Orchestra