The Cycle of Life 265 



intrusted to an old man, usually a relative. He must exercise the 

 greatest care in his mission, for should he squint, while the jar is in 

 his possession, the child will be likewise afflicted. If it is desired that 

 the infant shall become a great hunter, the jar is hung in the jungle; 

 if he is to be an expert swimmer and a successful fisherman, it is 

 placed in the river; but ill fortune is in store for the baby if the pot 

 is buried, for he will always be afraid to climb a tree or to ascend a 

 mountain. 



These close ties between the infant and the after-birth are easily 

 comprehended by a people who also believe in the close relationship 

 between a person and any object recently handled by him (cf. p. 305). 

 In general it is thought that the after-birth soon disappears and no 

 longer influences the child; yet certain of the folk-tales reflect a 

 firm conviction that a group of spirits, known as alan, sometimes take 

 the placenta, and transform it into a real child, who is then more 

 powerful than ordinary mortals. 1 



Immediately following the birth the father constructs a shallow 

 bamboo framework (baitkEn), 2 which he fills with ashes, and places 

 in the room close to the mother. On this a fire is kept burning con- 

 stantly for twenty-nine days. 8 For this fire he must carefully prepare 

 each stick of wood, for should it have rough places on it, the baby 

 would have lumps on its head. A double explanation is offered for 

 this fire ; firstly, "to keep the mother warm ;" secondly, as a protection 

 against evil spirits. The idea of protection is evidently the original 

 and dominant one ; for, as we shall see, evil spirits are wont to 

 frequent a house, where a birth or death has occurred, and a fire is 

 always kept burning below the house or beside the ladder at such a 

 time. 4 



When the child has been washed, it is placed on an inverted rice- 



1 Traditions of the Tinguian, this volume, No. 1, p. 185. It is also the belief 

 of the Peninsular Malay that the incidental products of a confinement may be 

 endowed with life (Wilkinson, Malay Beliefs, p. 30). 



2 The character e, which appears frequently in the native names, is used 

 to indicate a sound between the obscure vowel e, as in sun, and the ur, in 

 burrow. 



1 The number of days varies somewhat in different sections, and is gen- 

 erally longer for the first child than for the succeeding. 



4 The custom of building a fire beside the mother is practised among the 

 Malay, Jakun and Mantri of the Peninsula. In India, the practice of keeping 

 a fire beside the newborn infant, in order to protect it from evil beings, is 

 widespread. See Tawney, Katha Sarit Sagara, Vol. I, pp. 246, 305, note; Vol. 

 II, p. 631 (Calcutta, 1880). According to Skeat (Malay Magic, p. 343), the Malay 

 keep the fire burning forty-four days. The custom is called the "roasting of 

 the mother." The same custom is found in Cambodja (see Encyclopaedia of 

 Religion and Ethics, Vol. Ill, pp. 32, 164, 347; Vol. VIII, p. 32). 



