Note 11 — Chapter V · EL RIO META
Reading edition
Historia de Abiponibus, Vol. II, p. 231 et seq., Vienna, 1784. “Attention has recently been called to a group of peasant superstitions that have made their appearance in Germany, which are closely analogous in principle to the couvade, though relating not to the actual parents of the child but to the god-parents. It is believed that the habits and proceedings of the god-father and god-mother affect the child’s life and character. Particularly, the god-father at the christening must not think of disease or madness lest this come upon the child; he must not look round on the way to the church lest the child should grow up an idle stare-about; nor must he carry a knife about him for fear of making the child a suicide; the god-mother must put on a clean shift to go to the baptism or the baby will grow up untidy,” etc., etc. See E. B. Tylor’s Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, p. 304, Boston, 1878.
For further information on La Couvade, the reader is referred to Brett’s Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 355; Max Muller’s Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II, p. 281; Spix and Martius’s Travels in Brazil, Vol. II, p. 247; Du Tertre’s Histoire Générale des Antilles habitées par les Francais, Vol. II, p. 371; Gilli’s Saggio di Storia Americana, Vol. II, p. 133; Tschudi’s Peru, Vol. II, p. 235; Tylor’s Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, p. 293, et seq; and Lafitau’s Moeurs des Sauvages Americains, Vol. I, p. 259. ↑