DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0208
146
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
perinaeum, the woman passing the first weeks on her back with her knees bound together.
Although death during childbirth is uncommon, a considerable number of children die in
infancy, and families are usually small. In this matter the genealogical table given at the
end of this paper is not a fair criterion; as only those children who had died quite recently
would be remembered except, perhaps, by their own mothers. Enquiries elicited the
fact that women were known who had given birth to as many as nine children, but such
numbers were looked upon as unusual and seven children were regarded as constituting a
large family.67 Footling presentations were said to be almost always fatal to the child.
Any experienced woman may act as midwife; the mother or maternal aunt of the
parturiant woman may assist during birth. The cord is cut after ligature in one place,
but before it is cut the father is called to the tent. He remains outside, and promises a
gift to the child, one or more camels or sheep according to his means. These are always
female, and the increase is considered the child’s property. Blood from the stump of the
umbilical cord is rubbed on the child’s gums; the afterbirth is buried without any special
ceremony, and no attention is paid to the place of its burial. On the day a child is born
a sheep is killed as karama. If the child is a girl, the skin of the sheep is given to the
midwife, but when a male child is born the midwife receives a fob. In either case the
midwife is given some of the meat, including the liver and kidneys. A week later a second
sheep is killed, and the midwife receives similar portions. The mother remains on her couch
for forty days, but if she is obliged to shift camp, she will recline in her 'utfa. During
this time her husband may visit her, but he may not have connection with her. At the end
of her seclusion her husband gives her new clothes, and, if he can afford it, some jewelry.
In the case of a male child the karama on the seventh day is a more important affair
than that for a girl. Several sheep are killed in front of the tent where the mother and
child lie. As the father of the child cuts the throat of the first victim he repeats the halal,
mentioning the name of the child. Pegs of the wood of the la'uta bush {Acacia nubica')
are cut and thrust into the ground beside the mother’s bed. The leg bones of the sheep are
collected and hung on these, being preserved for twelve months, after which time they
are hung on a tree, the biggest tree near the tent being chosen. It is considered of good
omen to the child if the tree prospers, and the reverse would be considered to suggest bad
luck. When the family were moving the la'uta pegs and bones would be hung on the 'utfa.
Should the child die before a year had passed, the 'alek, as the bones and the sticks together
are called (from “to be suspended,”), is put upon his grave, and the beads that
the infant had worn round its waist and wrist are added to it.
67 There does not seem to be any reason to attribute this to infibulation though the association naturally sug-
gests itself; it is more probably due to prolonged lactation. Doughty, who states that the Bedouin women of Arabia
bear few children, also records that suckling is often prolonged; Arabia Deserta, vol. 1, p. 237.
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
perinaeum, the woman passing the first weeks on her back with her knees bound together.
Although death during childbirth is uncommon, a considerable number of children die in
infancy, and families are usually small. In this matter the genealogical table given at the
end of this paper is not a fair criterion; as only those children who had died quite recently
would be remembered except, perhaps, by their own mothers. Enquiries elicited the
fact that women were known who had given birth to as many as nine children, but such
numbers were looked upon as unusual and seven children were regarded as constituting a
large family.67 Footling presentations were said to be almost always fatal to the child.
Any experienced woman may act as midwife; the mother or maternal aunt of the
parturiant woman may assist during birth. The cord is cut after ligature in one place,
but before it is cut the father is called to the tent. He remains outside, and promises a
gift to the child, one or more camels or sheep according to his means. These are always
female, and the increase is considered the child’s property. Blood from the stump of the
umbilical cord is rubbed on the child’s gums; the afterbirth is buried without any special
ceremony, and no attention is paid to the place of its burial. On the day a child is born
a sheep is killed as karama. If the child is a girl, the skin of the sheep is given to the
midwife, but when a male child is born the midwife receives a fob. In either case the
midwife is given some of the meat, including the liver and kidneys. A week later a second
sheep is killed, and the midwife receives similar portions. The mother remains on her couch
for forty days, but if she is obliged to shift camp, she will recline in her 'utfa. During
this time her husband may visit her, but he may not have connection with her. At the end
of her seclusion her husband gives her new clothes, and, if he can afford it, some jewelry.
In the case of a male child the karama on the seventh day is a more important affair
than that for a girl. Several sheep are killed in front of the tent where the mother and
child lie. As the father of the child cuts the throat of the first victim he repeats the halal,
mentioning the name of the child. Pegs of the wood of the la'uta bush {Acacia nubica')
are cut and thrust into the ground beside the mother’s bed. The leg bones of the sheep are
collected and hung on these, being preserved for twelve months, after which time they
are hung on a tree, the biggest tree near the tent being chosen. It is considered of good
omen to the child if the tree prospers, and the reverse would be considered to suggest bad
luck. When the family were moving the la'uta pegs and bones would be hung on the 'utfa.
Should the child die before a year had passed, the 'alek, as the bones and the sticks together
are called (from “to be suspended,”), is put upon his grave, and the beads that
the infant had worn round its waist and wrist are added to it.
67 There does not seem to be any reason to attribute this to infibulation though the association naturally sug-
gests itself; it is more probably due to prolonged lactation. Doughty, who states that the Bedouin women of Arabia
bear few children, also records that suckling is often prolonged; Arabia Deserta, vol. 1, p. 237.