MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY— GILI.IN 



137 



all agree that only a hospital can handle a breech 

 presentation. A typical attitude toward antisepsis 

 is reflected by my conversation with one midwife. 

 Since her hands always appeared dirty, I asked her if 

 she washed them before delivering a child. She 

 smiled and tossed her head, saying "Si, si" as if it 

 were a matter of small importance. This same mid- 

 wife claims, however, never to have lost a patient in 

 childbirth and that puerperal fevers are unknown in 

 Moche. The latter claim is doubtful on the basis of 

 lay information. Some cases were mentioned of mid- 

 wives extracting dead foetuses with their hands, but 

 apparently most such cases are handled in the hos- 

 pital. 



In order to ease the labor pains, agua de albahaca 

 and port wine are given by mouth, as much as a glass- 

 ful. A punch made of port wine and chicha is also 

 said to be helpful. Camphor oil is massaged on the 

 stomach to hasten the birth. On the whole, there 

 seem to be few magically colored attitudes involved 

 in childbirth ; both patients and midwives proceed in 

 a strictly businesslike and secular manner. 



It is said that most women bear relatively easily : 

 midwives say that the average labor of multiparous 

 women is 5 hours. Several cases of primaparas stay- 

 ing in labor for over 20 hours were mentioned to me, 

 however. If labor lasts 24 hours w^ithout delivery, 

 the patient is usually taken to the hospital. The mid- 

 wife seeks to avoid a dry birth by administering by 

 mouth an infusion of jcrania flowers. 



The birth takes place in bed or in a reclining posi- 

 tion. To start the child crying and breathing, the 

 midwife picks it up by the feet and pats it on the but- 

 tocks. In stubborn cases, she lays it on its stomach 

 and places a newly hatched chick on its buttocks. 

 When the chick pecks the babe invariably comes to 

 life, according to the part eras. The umbilical cord 

 is cut with unsterilized scissors the width of four 

 fingers from the child's abdomen and is tied with 

 cotton sewing thread. The mother is then required 

 to stand up, spread her feet out, and shake herself 

 until the placenta is expelled. It must then be buried 

 in the floor of the kitchen by the midwife. If it is 

 touched or dug up by anyone else, "the mother will 

 die." The umbilical cord falls ofT eventually. No 

 attention is paid to it. The child's abdomen is bound 

 with a bandage of cotton cloth. To clear the eyes of 

 the newborn child, the midwife bathes them with 

 white cotton moistened with drops of boric acid solu- 

 tion. The ears are cleaned with a toothpick and cot- 

 ton, but very carefully, to avoid breaking the drums. 



653348° — 47—10 



The newborn is given a cloth nipple to suck for 3 

 days after birth. This contains a starch compound 

 (amidon compucsto) mixed with powdered sugar and 

 is said to have the dual virtue of providing nourish- 

 ment and cleaning the infant's system. If the child 

 has colic, it is given a few drops of agua dc anis de 

 cstrclla. 



To stop uterine hemorrhage, rumilanchc and a few 

 drops of iodine are mixed in boiling water and in- 

 jected hot into the vagina with a douche bag and noz- 

 zle. A preventive of recurring hemorrhages is tara 

 boiled in water. To this infusion are added jerania 

 flowers well cut up. The liquid is given by mouth. 

 Eight days is the standard lying-in period, although 

 some women habitually get up after 3 days and others 

 lie in as long as 2 weeks. Only "cold" foods should 

 be eaten. Chicha helps to increase the mother's milk. 

 A wet nurse is used, if necessary, usually a relative or 

 a comadrc. This is seldom required. 



The Peruvian Ministry of Health has been carrying 

 on a campaign against infant mortality, and attempts 

 to persuade women to have their children delivered 

 in hospitals. This service may be had free or at a 

 nominal charge, and a number of women in Moche 

 have been converted to this method and always go to 

 Trujillo. In cities, certified, registered female mid- 

 wives, w-ho have passed an officially approved short 

 course are available. As a sidelight on the impression 

 made by these modern facilities, I quote from my 

 notes the substance of a conversation with a woman 

 who is not a Mochera but who has lived years in 

 Moche and is married to a Mochero, whom she met 

 while he was working in Lima. Although she comes 

 from a cholo working-class family in Lima, she is 

 well acculturated to Moche ways. 



Two men and I dropped into this woman's house for some 

 chicha and causa one afternoon. The woman received us 

 heartily and told us the news that the woman ne.xt door had 

 just given birth to a robust male infant. This provided an 

 opening for the discussion of childbirth customs, and the 

 seiiora, who is the mother of six, was far from bashful. In 

 fact, her frankness in discussing such matters with three men 

 was surprising to a North .•\merican. It was as if this were 

 one subject on wliich slie, as a mother, was a clearly recog- 

 nized authority and concerning which no one present could 

 easily contradict her. We shall skip over her remarks about 

 the technique of childbirth, which have been abstracted, to- 

 gether with information from other informants, in the 

 material which has gone before. She said that the midwives 

 charge about what the traffic will bear within a range of 

 from 3 to 15 soles. She herself has never paid more than 

 10 soles in Moche. One time in Lima, however, she said she 

 had a terrible experience. She fell into the hands of a 

 profesora (an officially qualified midwife). Our friend was 



