No you are not reading the weekly Sun rag magazine.
Matthew McConaughey will be planting his son Levi's placenta in an orchard so that it will one day "bear some wonderful fruit."
McConaughey says he hopes it will fertilize the land, a ritual long followed in several cultures.
"It's going to be in the orchards and it's going to bear some wonderful fruit," he says, according to an interview transcript. "When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river ... and all the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength.
"This tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it. It was gorgeous." [SOURCE]
Good for him! I would never be able to be near a "placenta tree" without fighting the urge to vomit, but that is just me.
I thought the sun rose and set upon my newborn son after giving birth to him but sealing the placenta in a ziplock bag so that I could plant it in my backyard and forever tell him the story never crossed my mind. "You see that tree over there? Your placenta is planted under it. Isn't that wonderful." Gag, I almost threw up in my mouth just writing that.
At least he isn't making chili or stew with it, let's rejoice in that little fact right there.
I was never a Matt fan and now I think he is even weirder.
However, here is what other cultures do with the placenta.
Among the Navajo Indians of the Southwest, bury a child's placenta within the sacred Four Corners of the tribe's reservation as a binder to ancestral land and people.
New Zealand's Maoris have the same tradition of burying the placenta within native soil.
The Bolivian Aymara and Quecha people believe the placenta has its own spirit. It is to be washed and buried by the husband in a secret and shady place. If this ritual is not performed correctly, they believe, the mother or baby may become very sick or even die.
The Ibo of Nigeria and Ghana treat the placenta as the dead twin of the live child and give it full burial rites.
Filipina mothers are known to bury the placenta with books, in hopes of a smart child.Other cultures place a symbol of their people with the placenta when burying it, as a kind of heritage insurance.
Among the Hmong culture of Southeast Asia, the word for placenta can be translated as "jacket," as it's considered an infant's first and finest clothing. The Hmong bury the placenta outside. They believe that after death, the soul must retrace the journeys undertaken in life until it reaches the burial place of its placenta jacket.
Vietnamese and Chinese people prepare the placenta for consumption by mothers. The Chinese believe a nursing mother should boil the placenta, make a broth, then drink it to improve her milk.
Then, there's the not-so-ceremonial use of it, the commercial use of "placenta extract" found in some cosmetics, such as facial cream sold in France. In 1994, Britain banned the practice of collecting placentas in hospitals from unsuspecting mothers, after it was learned that 360 tons of it were annually being bought and shipped by French pharmaceutical firms. They used it to make a protein, albumin, for burns and to make enzymes to treat rare genetic disorders.
The placenta is a vascular organ that develops within the uterus during pregnancy. Attached by the umbilical cord to the baby, the placenta discharges shortly after birth; thus, it is often called the afterbirth. Since it is the structure through which the fetus receives nourishment, many cultures consider it rich in nutrients; it's even said to relieve postnatal depression.
Then, there's the not-so-ceremonial use of it, the commercial use of "placenta extract" found in some cosmetics, such as facial cream sold in France. In 1994, Britain banned the practice of collecting placentas in hospitals from unsuspecting mothers, after it was learned that 360 tons of it were annually being bought and shipped by French pharmaceutical firms. They used it to make a protein, albumin, for burns and to make enzymes to treat rare genetic disorders.
The placenta is a vascular organ that develops within the uterus during pregnancy. Attached by the umbilical cord to the baby, the placenta discharges shortly after birth; thus, it is often called the afterbirth. Since it is the structure through which the fetus receives nourishment, many cultures consider it rich in nutrients; it's even said to relieve postnatal depression.
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