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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



In all of the births which I witnessed, except 

 that of the twins, the mothers had no difficulty 

 in delivery. The time of labor varied from 1 to 

 3 hom-s, but never extended beyond that limit. 

 In all instances the babies were born head first. 



To exert force during labor a woman grasps the 

 rope stnmg above her hammock. The infant, in 

 being bom, slides off the outside strings of the 

 hammock on to the soft earth below. Since ham- 

 mocks are not hung more than a few inches above 

 the floor, the shock to the infant of fallmg to the 

 ground is not great, yet it is probably sufficient 

 to start it breathing and induce it to show other 

 signs of life. In no case did I see an infant slapped 

 to give it life. All of them started breathing im- 

 mediately after the shock of birth. 



Immediately after the birth the mother gets out 

 of her hammock and kneels on the floor to one 

 side of the infant until the afterbirth is expelled. 

 In all of the cases which I witnessed the after- 

 birth was expelled in a matter of 10 minutes, but 

 if a woman experiences any difficulty in this 

 matter she is pounded on the back until it does 

 come out. 



The proceedings which follow depend to some 

 extent upon whether the birth takes place at 

 night, when the father is present, or diu'ing the 

 day, when he is off on the hiuit. If the father is 

 present the umbilical cord is cut at once; if not, 

 the mother must await his arrival. The cord is 

 cut by the father with a bamboo knife. After 

 taking a bath he squats on the floor by the in- 

 fant. The mother then hands him a piece of 

 bamboo, and while she holds the cord away from 

 the placenta, he cuts it about 4 mches from the 

 placental end. After this the mother holds up 

 the cord and the father cuts off a section about 6 

 inches in length, which is tied to the under side 

 of the hammock to prevent the infant from crying. 

 The remainder of the cord, about 8 inches, is left 

 attached to the infant and is not tied. After all 

 of these proceedmgs, durmg which not a word is 

 said, the father returns to his hammock to com- 

 mence the observance ot the couvade. If he has 

 not been present at the birth, the same customs 

 are followed after he returns from the hunt. 



Immediately after the afterbnth has been ex- 

 pelled, the mother picks up the newborn infant 

 and begins to scrape the dirt and ashes from its 

 skin and haii' with her hands. Wliile thus clean- 

 ing the baby she also slightly presses its head from 



front to back, and its hips inward, so as to make 

 it etura (beautiful). For a couple of days im- 

 mediately following childbirth, about every half 

 hour or so, the mother can be observed pressing 

 the infant's head and hips in this fashion to make 

 it beautiful. Having cleaned the baby she gives 

 it a perfunctory bath, from a calabash, after which 

 it is offered suck — usually less than half an hour 

 after birth. 



After the baby has been bathed and suckled, 

 the mother begins to clean up the afterbirth 

 which lies under the hammock. No one but she 

 has any contact with this bloody mess. She sits 

 on the ground with the baby in her arms and 

 with one hand scrapes up all evidence of the birth 

 into a pile. This is shoved temporarily into a 

 hole in the ground or placed in a basket, and 

 about 2 weeks later is taken deep into the bush 

 and thrown away. A mother sits on the ground, 

 tending her baby, for about 8 hours following the 

 birth before she again enters her hammock. 



For about 3 days following childbirth the 

 Siriono family undergoes a series of observances 

 and rites which we may loosely term the couvade. 

 These rites are designed to protect the life of the 

 infant and to insure its good health. Not only 

 is the infant believed to be extremely delicate 

 during the period immediately following birth, 

 and thus readily subject to disease and death, 

 but it is thought still intimately to be connected 

 with the parents and profoundly to be affected by 

 their activities. Consequently the latter are 

 restricted in various ways. Except for satisfying 

 the calls of nature they do not move outside of 

 the house. They stay close to their hammocks, 

 and are subject to a number of food taboos. 

 Neither jaguar nor coati is eaten lest the infant 

 break out with sores all over its body; paca 

 cannot be eaten or the infant may lose its hair; 

 papaya cannot be eaten lest the infant become a 

 victim of diarrhea. Parents do not suffer much 

 during this period, however, as there is a long list 

 of foods which they can eat: guan, agouti, mon- 

 key, tapir, deer, peccary, tortoise, fish, manioc, 

 maize, etc. Some informants told me that maize 

 was taboo during the couvade period — to prevent 

 the infant from having pains in the stomach — but 

 since I never saw this taboo observed it is probably 

 not a functioning one. 



More important than the abstinence from 

 certain foods is the carrying out of certain other 



