The births among other Eastern nations have all their peculiar ceremonies; some originating in national traditions, others being copied from the customs of the dominant nation. Jewesses pride themselves greatly when nature has made them prolific mothers; even the poorest rejoice over successive births, particularly when the children are males. On all such occasions, friends and relatives gather round the expectant mother, giving much of their time to her company, and making every effort to amuse her and make her less sensitive to the pains and anxieties of maternity. In some towns, Adrianople for instance, regular réunions take place round the sick-couch (including visitors of both sexes), enlivened by music and dancing. If the child be a girl, its name is given to it; if a boy, it is circumcised. A Rabbi is called in, and a godfather and godmother chosen. The latter carries the baby to the door of the room and delivers it to the former, who holds the infant during the initiation; it is then returned to the mother, and a feast is given on the occasion.
The Armenians have conformed more to the Turkish customs than any other race in the country. An Armenian confinement is assisted by a midwife, herself an Armenian, and as ignorant as her Turkish colleague; only in difficult cases is a doctor resorted to. The ceremonies at an Armenian birth are scarcely less superstitious than the Turkish rites. They are of a more vague and indefinite character. If possible, a mother and child should not be left alone the first few days; but the broom is replaced by the venerated image of the Holy Virgin or some saint, put on guard over the bed. Garlic is not resorted to as a safeguard against the evil eye, but holy water is nightly sprinkled over child and mother, who are also fumigated with the holy olive-branch. The company received on these occasions is quiet, and only part of the Turkish show and pageantry is displayed in the adornment of the bed. The child has the same Bologna sausage appearance, modified by a European baby’s cap. A neighbor of mine once brought her child to me in great distress, saying it had not ceased crying for three days and nights, without her being able to guess the reason. I made her at once unbandage the baby, and soon discovered the cause. A long hair had in some inexplicable manner wound itself round the child’s thumb, which was swollen to a disproportionate size through the stoppage of the circulation, and was nearly severed from the little hand.
About the ninth day the bath ceremony takes place; but instead of the mother’s body providing food for her guests by the honeyed plaster of the Turkish woman, all sit down to a substantial luncheon in which the Yahlan dolma and the lakana turshou (Sauerkraut) play a prominent part, and which is brought into the bath on this occasion.
As the christening takes place within eight days, it cannot on that account be witnessed by the mother, who is unable to attend the church services before the fortieth day, when she goes to receive the benediction of purification. Part of the water used for the christening is presumably brought from the river Jordan, and the child is also rubbed with holy oil. The service concluded, the party walk home in procession, headed by the midwife carrying the baby. Refreshments are offered to the company, who soon afterwards retire. A gift of a gold cross or a fine gold coin is made to the child by the sponsors.
No system of diet is followed in the rearing of Armenian children, nor are their bodies refreshed by a daily bath. Few people in the East bathe their children, like Europeans, for a general idea prevails that it is an injurious custom and a fertile cause of sickness. Kept neither clean nor neat, they are allowed to struggle through infancy in a very irregular manner. Yet in spite of this they are strong and healthy.
The customs among the higher classes of Greeks and Bulgarians are very much alike. The latter, though now more backward, were till lately pretty faithful copies of the former. Their usages differ according to the district, and depend upon the degree of progress civilization has made among the people. At Constantinople, for instance, everything takes place just as in Europe; but in district towns, such as Adrianople, Salonika, Vodena, Serres, many of the superstitions of the ancient Greeks may still be found in connection with the birth of a child. At Serres, for example, the event is awaited in silence by the midwife and a few elderly relatives; when the little stranger arrives, the good news is taken to the anxious father, and then circulated through the family, who soon collect round the maternal couch and offer their hearty felicitations, saying, “Νἀ πολυχρονήση.” The infant in its turn receives the same good wishes, and after being bathed in salt and water is wrapped up (but not mummified) and laid by the side of the mother, who can press its little hand and watch its tiny feet moving about under their coverings. The couch is kept for three days, when the accouchée is made to rise from it, walking in a stream of water poured by the mammê (accoucheuse) from a bottle along her path. This custom must be connected with the conception of water as the emblem of purity, and must be intended to remind the mother that her strength must ever rest upon her chastity. On this night a woof and some gold and silver coins are placed under the pillow, as a hint to the Moeræ, or fates, who are supposed to visit the slumbering infant, that they may include riches and industry in the benefits they bestow upon it.
The christening, as a rule, takes place within eight days after the birth. The Koumbáros and the Koumbára (also called Nono and Nona) stand as godfather and godmother to the child, who is carried to the church by the mammê followed by the sponsors, the relatives, and friends invited to the ceremony. The cost of the baptismal robe, the bonbons, liqueurs, and all other expenses connected with the rite are defrayed by the Nono. The lowest estimate of the cost is 2l. 10s., and, though a great outlay for a poor family, they are never known to be omitted.
The child, held by the godfather, is met at the church door by the officiating priests, who read over it part of the service, the Nono responding to the questions.
The priest then holds the child in an erect attitude, and standing on the steps of the church makes the sign of the cross with it. It is then taken by the godfather and placed for a moment before the shrine of Christ or the Virgin, according to its sex, while the priests, proceeding to the font, pour in the hot water and some of the oil brought by the sponsor and consecrated in the church. The infant is taken from his hands, and in its original nakedness plunged three times into the font. Three pieces of hair are cut from its head in the form of crosses and thrown into the water, which is poured into a consecrated well in the church. The cutting off of these locks of hair probably had its origin in a custom observed by the ancient Greeks, who dedicated their hair to the water deities; now it signifies the dedication of the infants to Christ at their baptism.
The sign of the cross is made on the head and parts of the body with holy oil, signifying confirmation. The child is then delivered into the hands of the godmother, who carries it three times round the font while prayers are being read; it is then taken to the holy gates, where the communion is administered in both hands with a spoon, so that the three sacraments, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist, are all given to the child while an unconscious infant.