1840. J The Hodesum (improperly called Kolehan). 793 



Rites, Sfc. at Childbirth. 



When the pangs of childbirth are coming on, the husband procures 

 some widow as midwife, to whom a fee of eight annas is given. Dur- 

 ing the wife's illness the husband alone cooks for her, and also for 

 the midwife, who is unclean, as well as the husband ; for eight days 

 all the children and servants are excluded from the house, and sent 

 with provisions to live for the time at some relation's ; very little 

 children are allowed to remain with the father. 



Should the pangs be very violent, and the women's life in danger, 

 divination is had recourse to, to discover the afflicting divinity, to 

 whom a cock, goat, or sheep is sacrificed. 



For eight days the husband cooks his own dinner, remaining apart 

 from all friends and relations ; during this time these latter prepare 

 Eely, which they brew on the fourth day, so that it may be upon the 

 eighth and place it in the husband's house. On the eighth morning 

 the father shaves the child's head, and gets his own shorne by a taunty, 

 or by his own servants. He then bathes and washes his clothes, 

 and the wife does the same. They then go and partake of the Eely 

 which has been set apart for them, and the relations finish the re- 

 mainder, taking it away to drink. 



The unclean state of the husband and wife still continues till the 

 new moon, or the moon's first quarter, according to the time of the 

 child's birth, and the expiration of the eight days. Finally, there is a 

 grand feast at the house of the husband and wife, and they are held 

 clean from that date. 



Naming the Child, 



When the child can begin to stand or waddle about, the parents 

 think of naming him. For this purpose they procure a pan of water 

 in which they put four grains of Oorid, then take them out, and rub 

 them in the palms of their hands until they are well softened. The 

 father then cries out a name, saying he will adopt it if the grain of 

 Oorid floats in the water, but not if it sinks. Four names with the 

 four seeds are thus tried, and the name to which the seed floats is as- 

 sumed and given to the child. 



Should all four seeds by any chance sink, the ceremony of naming 

 is abandoned for six months, or a year, when the same operations are 

 resumed. 



