TOKEN 'SALE' OF CHILD TO WARD OFF ILLNESS

There are some Chinese parents whose children  are unhealthy would get foster parents for their sons or daughters in the hope that with this added set of parents, the boy or girl would become healthy.  There are times when parents of children who are very ill would undergo a ritual to "sell" their children at a token amount to people like beggars, paupers, old couples or someone of a different race or religion.  This is done in the belief that by 'selling' their child to other people, he or she would be able to able to recover from the illness and grow up to be strong and healthy.  Of course, the child's own parents get to keep him or her.  The sales bit is just a ritual.  My friends tell me that this particular ritual is also practised by the Malays especially those who live in the villages.  The same concept applies.  The child is 'sold' for a token sum of 25 sen and yellow glutinous rice (like the one in the above picture) is served during the ritual.
Some people might pooh-pooh this practise as total nonsense but try telling parents or grandparents of a child who is very ill in hospital, they would be the first to do it.