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The younger brother (placenta).As in Java, the placenta is regarded as the younger brother or sister (adòë[1]) of the new-born child[2], but the estimation of the liquor amnii as the elder brother is unknown in Acheh.
The oven.The child, still united to its adòë, is placed for the time being on a fine large betel-nut spathe. The woman, after being cleansed and treated with sundry oils[3] which her mother holds in readiness, is laid upon a bench or platform (prataïh). After the woman has recovered a little, an oven is placed beneath this platform, and in this a fire is kept up continually for forty-four days[4]. The idea is that the almost insupportable heat and smoke will counteract the collection of damp in the woman's body and assist in quickly restoring her figure to its former shape. During this period it is said of the woman that she is "engaged in drying herself over the fire" (madeuëng[5]). She is then called ureuëng didapu i. e. "one that lies close to the hearth."
The woman suffers dreadfully under this process, and tosses hither and thither to save her skin from being scorched. She is not allowed to quench her thirst with water, but must be content with a little tea. She gets nothing to cool her parched mouth except some sugarcane and pineapple which she is allowed to chew. Of late a less severe treatment of women after childbirth has begun to be adopted in imitation of the Javanese.
As an instance of "pantang" during this period of drying[6], the woman
- ↑ Hence the saying Si N. maté meukamat adòë = "N, (the woman) died because the younger brother was not brought to the birth."
- ↑ The Malays have this notion too; when an infant smiles it is said to be "thinking of its younger brother" (adek). The Malays do not keep the placenta; they put it in a jar and bury it in the ground and plant a cocoanut over it. The tree that grows from this serves as a token of the child's age. (Translator).
- ↑ Minyeuʾ kayèë putéh (kayu puteh), minyeuʾ dòythun (olive oil) and minyeuʾ sribuguna or minyeuʾ kòntò.
- ↑ As to the signifance of a period of 44 days after birth, marriage, death etc., see pp. 264, 324.
- ↑ This is an abbreviated form derived from dadeuëng with the addition of the inserted syllable eum. Dadeuëng = "to dry over the fire." (transitive). As to this custom cf. G. H. Niemann in the Bijdragen van het Koninkl. Inst. voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederl.-Indië for 1892, p. 36.
[The Malay is bědiang. The Malays only apply the "oven" at intervals as a rule, and the intensity of the heat is gradually diminished. The wood used for fuel must contain no poison; the kind most generally employed is a variety of mangrove known in the Malay Peninsula as api-api. Rambutanwood is also used occasionally. (Translator).
- ↑ The Malays have a curious pantang-rule as to the wood used for the oven; those who tend the fire must be most careful not to break the burning brands, as to do so would be likely to cause sickness to the child. (Translator).
