Ti tou, the month-old shave
The hair is cut at the month-old feast, and mostly not really cut: a whole spring onion held with the razor makes the pass over the head, and the onion is then planted back in the vegetable patch.
Pronunciation tì tóu｜Rites of life｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
The month-old haircut is done by a barber or by a woman of the house. The point of the rite is often not to cut: a whole spring onion is taken, the razor held against it, and the shaving motion made on the child’s head; afterwards the onion is planted back in the garden, in the hope that the hair grows as thick as the onion. Some places do shave it all off, on the view that the hair that grows afterwards is black and strong.
The onion stands for growth, and also for cleverness, the words being the same in sound. In the countryside around Puning a red egg is sent round to neighbours on the same day, called the shave egg.
When you see it
On the day of the month-old feast, finished the same day as the threading of the mother’s face. Only after the shave may the child be carried out of the birth room to be seen; when this is done, the rites of the month are closed.
Words easily confused
The shave and the kai xing, the first taste of meat, are not on the same day. The shave is at the month, while kai xing falls differently in each county — some on the seventh to twelfth day, some waiting for the fourth month. The shave egg is the red egg sent that day, not an offering on the kai xing table.
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 month-old feast, the first taste of meat, the first birthday.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026