DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0254
238
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Pregnancy and childbirth. An event of the first importance in the Yao world is the
first conception or rather the 11 quickening ” with the first child, Litiwo; this is described
below, together with the other ceremonies of the Unyagod After the ceremony of Litiwo,
the period of waiting until the birth of the child passes without further event. A point of
medical interest is that native women suffer in many cases from “ morning sickness ” dur-
ing pregnancy. That they may have perverted appetites is also recognized, grain husks
and crabs being among the things most commonly desired. As the Anyanja,2 the Yao
believe that the child develops from the semen of the male, although the growth of the
child is in some way connected with the mother.
When labor commences, the woman retires to the bush a few hundred yards away from
her house, attended by some friend, seldom a midwife, and never by her own people, though
the mother and the mother-in-law will probably be near the spot. If labor is not completed
by evening, they return to the house and the birth may take place actually within its walls.
The attitude assumed in labor is the same as that adopted by the Anyanja,3 the patient
semi-reclining in the arms of another woman who sits behind, grasping her belly. The
vulva is smeared with a decoction made from the bark of the mposa tree as a lubricant, but
no other help is given. Kumkuli is the name given to the place of confinement; mduuli
means the house where the woman remains for a period after the confinement. The Yao
recognize the protruding bag of amniotic fluid and call it the “ oil-gourd “Chisasi chika-
siche? (The oil-gourd, has it broken?).” They wait until the placenta is delivered before
dividing the cord. This is done with the sharp edge of the outer covering of a maize stalk
or sugar cane; a knife is never used. The section is made near the placenta or half-way be-
tween it and the child, after tying the proximal end with a bark string.
The woman who recdives the child at birth is the ambusanga, friend or godmother. If
the infant is born in the bush, she carries it back to the house whither they go as soon as
labor is completed. The mother herself, unless she is very ill, goes out shortly afterwards
and buries the placenta in the ash-heap, using a stick to dig the hole, never a hoe.
After the birth, the mother and child must remain in the house until the umbilical cord
separates, during which time the husband does not enter, though he may come to the
door to look in at the child.
The day on which exit from the house is made, the floor is entirely replastered with mud.
The baby’s head is shaved and a cross is made upon it with ngama, a kind of red pigment.
The husband may then receive the child and in the case of a first-born, it is he who gives it
its name; other children may be named by the ambusanga, the mother, or the aunt.
When the mother leaves the house to appear in public, the nakanga who put her litiwo
on,4 removes it.
So long as the infant remains in the house, care must be taken as to persons allowed to
handle it. A woman who has recently had a menstrual period or coitus with her husband,
1 Vide infra, p. 274.
2 Stannus, op. cit., p. 310.
2 Ibid.
4 Vide infra, p. 274.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Pregnancy and childbirth. An event of the first importance in the Yao world is the
first conception or rather the 11 quickening ” with the first child, Litiwo; this is described
below, together with the other ceremonies of the Unyagod After the ceremony of Litiwo,
the period of waiting until the birth of the child passes without further event. A point of
medical interest is that native women suffer in many cases from “ morning sickness ” dur-
ing pregnancy. That they may have perverted appetites is also recognized, grain husks
and crabs being among the things most commonly desired. As the Anyanja,2 the Yao
believe that the child develops from the semen of the male, although the growth of the
child is in some way connected with the mother.
When labor commences, the woman retires to the bush a few hundred yards away from
her house, attended by some friend, seldom a midwife, and never by her own people, though
the mother and the mother-in-law will probably be near the spot. If labor is not completed
by evening, they return to the house and the birth may take place actually within its walls.
The attitude assumed in labor is the same as that adopted by the Anyanja,3 the patient
semi-reclining in the arms of another woman who sits behind, grasping her belly. The
vulva is smeared with a decoction made from the bark of the mposa tree as a lubricant, but
no other help is given. Kumkuli is the name given to the place of confinement; mduuli
means the house where the woman remains for a period after the confinement. The Yao
recognize the protruding bag of amniotic fluid and call it the “ oil-gourd “Chisasi chika-
siche? (The oil-gourd, has it broken?).” They wait until the placenta is delivered before
dividing the cord. This is done with the sharp edge of the outer covering of a maize stalk
or sugar cane; a knife is never used. The section is made near the placenta or half-way be-
tween it and the child, after tying the proximal end with a bark string.
The woman who recdives the child at birth is the ambusanga, friend or godmother. If
the infant is born in the bush, she carries it back to the house whither they go as soon as
labor is completed. The mother herself, unless she is very ill, goes out shortly afterwards
and buries the placenta in the ash-heap, using a stick to dig the hole, never a hoe.
After the birth, the mother and child must remain in the house until the umbilical cord
separates, during which time the husband does not enter, though he may come to the
door to look in at the child.
The day on which exit from the house is made, the floor is entirely replastered with mud.
The baby’s head is shaved and a cross is made upon it with ngama, a kind of red pigment.
The husband may then receive the child and in the case of a first-born, it is he who gives it
its name; other children may be named by the ambusanga, the mother, or the aunt.
When the mother leaves the house to appear in public, the nakanga who put her litiwo
on,4 removes it.
So long as the infant remains in the house, care must be taken as to persons allowed to
handle it. A woman who has recently had a menstrual period or coitus with her husband,
1 Vide infra, p. 274.
2 Stannus, op. cit., p. 310.
2 Ibid.
4 Vide infra, p. 274.