Note 24 — Volume II.

Birth ceremony. 7. During pregnancy the oldest woman in the family waves a pice or a handful of grain over the woman’s head, and vows to offer a pig to Birtiha (who is regarded as a village deity, dih), and to Phûlmati Devi, if the confinement is easy. The Chamâin midwife cuts the cord with a sickle and buries it in the delivery room: a fire is lighted over it, and kept burning during the period of pollution. After the sixth day ceremony (chhathi) the barber’s wife takes the place of the midwife. The birth pollution ceases on the twelfth day (barahi) when the father offers a pig and some wine to Birtiha Deva. On her first visit to the well the mother worships it and lays a little washed rice (achhat) on the platform. The husband does not cohabit with his wife for six months after her confinement.24 The only initiation ceremony is the usual ear-boring (kanchhedan, kanbedha), which is done at the age of five or six. After this the child must observe the caste rules of food.