“At six weeks old, the child is similar to an angel: it knows neither good nor evil. Although it laughs in its sleep, it isn’t laughing on its own: a good spirit possesses it and shows it rainbows, and the angel entertains it and makes it rejoice at the thought that it doesn’t owe anything to anyone yet.
Angels love to play with children. Sometimes when the cradle sways by itself people say that it’s an angel swaying the cradle. Angels entertain and tease little children.
To make a child laugh, they say: ‘’we’ll take the father, take the father!’’ and the child laughs because it doesn’t know yet that it needs father. And as they say ‘’we’ll take the mother!’’ – now it starts to cry and whimper. It is all done in a dream.”
From “The child in the customs and beliefs of the Ukrainian people” by Marko Hrushevsky
