Note 14 — The Cycle of Life

The patient is in a kneeling or squatting position with her hands on a rope or bamboo rod, which is suspended from a rafter about the height of her shoulders.14 She draws on this, while one or more old women, skilled in matters pertaining to childbirth, knead and press down on the abdomen, and finally remove the child. The naval cord is cut with a bamboo knife,15 and is tied with bark cloth. Should the delivery be hard, a pig will be killed beneath the house, and its blood and flesh offered to the spirits, in order to gain their aid.