Qi la, the twelve days indoors
From the third day after a birth to the twelfth the mother stays in: head wrapped, curtain down, red paper on the door ring. Getting past the twelfth is called passing the la.
Pronunciation qì là｜Rites of life｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
In Chaoshan the days from the third to the twelfth after a birth are called the la period, and keeping indoors and receiving no visitors through them is qi la. The newborn is fragile and the navel not yet closed, and infection is the fear; coming safely through the twelfth day is guo la, passing the la, and counts as passing a gate.
The rules are detailed: the room shut, the curtain down, no outsider and no animal in; no hammering on walls, no sawing, no mending of doors or windows, no moving of furniture, no shouting. The door ring is sealed with red paper, or the paper pasted where the ring would be, so that anyone passing knows there is a confinement inside.
When you see it
Every household that has a birth has this stretch, marked at both ends: the third-day rites at one end, the twelfth day at the other. The wife’s family sends pork and eggs on the third or seventh day to build her up, which is called wang la, looking in on the confinement.
Words easily confused
Qi la is a stretch of days, not a single rite; the third-day and the twelfth-day rites are its two ends. Wang la is the visit when the wife’s family brings food, and guo la is the passing of the period.
Read next: Birth rites: the glad news, the month and the first birthday.
See also: Rites of life: the five thresholds side by side.
Same group: the third day, the twelfth day, the month-old feast.
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Last revised: 4 November 2026