Even before he enters the world the Afghan creates a stir. Preparations are made for his arrival because ceremonies have to be performed which will, as is believed, exercise an influence on his future life. The mother-to-be is confined to her room in the eighth month or even earlier, according to the state of her health, and she is watched over by mid-wives. These mid-wives are not trained, as is the case in the West. A woman practises because her mother was a mid-wife, and although her knowledge as a nurse may be limited—too severely limited in not a few cases—she is invariably expert in a sense that the folk-lorist understands, and, I am afraid, is inclined to encourage, if the truth be confessed.
Relatives begin to arrive a few days before the birth is due. When it becomes known that the birth is imminent, others arrive, the men armed with matchlocks. When it is announced to those waiting outside the house, that the, babe is born, the guns are fired, tom-toms are beaten, and the players of musical instruments set up a clamour at once shrill and deafening. But everyone strikes the appropriate human note, "Happy and prosperous be your days!" each says to the other. "Happy and prosperous be your days!" is the wish expressed on behalf of the new-born babe too. The guns and tom-toms scare away all evil influences; the good wishes are productive of good influences. All hearts are opened in this time of rejoicing and congratulation for a living mother and a living child, and buckets of grain are distributed to the poor. The imagination as well as the heart of the Afghan is touched by the mystery and crisis of birth.
In connection with the shooting, this is a well-defined custom. If the babe is a girl, seven or five shots are fired, but, if a boy, fourteen shots or even more. It matters not about what time of the day or night the birth takes place. The clamour is as loud in the darkness as in the daylight. No one in an Afghan village requires to wait for a morning
