He then gave a pinch of the powdered-plant medicine to the woman for the good health of the woman and child, and her mother, lifting ashes from the fireplace with her right hand, deposited them upon the floor in front of the woman. The father, then, standing, dipped the ashes with his eagle plumes, holding one in either hand, and, striking the under side of the plume held in the left hand with the one held in the right, threw the ashes to the cardinal points. Each time, after throwing the ashes, he passed the plumes down each side of the woman. When the plumes are struck the ho´naaite says: Mĭsh´ᵗcha hätch´ᵗse kótawa ohwichaini u´wak—“Ashes man, permit me to make good medicine for the child.”
The ho´naaite discovers the diseased parts of the body through the instrumentality of ashes, and with the scattering of ashes to the cardinal points, physical and mental impurities are cast from those present and the chamber is also purified.
Again the sprinkling of the ashes was repeated, but instead of running the plumes down each side of the woman, the ho´naaite held them in his right hand while he stood to the right of the woman and, pointing the feather ends down, began at the top of the head and passed the plumes in a direct line in front and down the center of the body, with a prayer for the safe delivery of the child. At the close of this ceremony the doctress stood to the right side of the woman, and, placing the tip end of the corn to the top of her head, blew upon it and passed that also in a straight line down the center of the body, with a prayer that the child might pass through the road of life promptly and safely. This was repeated four times, when the doctress returned to her seat. The ho´naaite then offered a short prayer and placed a pinch of medicine in the woman’s mouth, after which he left the house and went to the end of the placita and sprinkled meal to the east, praying that the sun father might bestow blessings upon the child. In a short time the woman passed down the long room, apparently in considerable pain, but bearing herself with dignified composure. Her mother brought a cloth to the point where the ceremony had been held and emptied the contents (sand) upon the floor, and with her hands flattened the mound into a circle of 20 inches in diameter and some 5 inches deep. On this she laid a small black sheepskin, the sister-in-law placed a bowl of water upon coals in the fireplace, and the mother afterward brought a vase of water and gourd and set it by the side of the fireplace. A urinal was deposited beyond the center of the room, and still beyond was a vase of fresh water. The mother spread a wool mattress at the south end of the room and upon it a blanket, and in the center of the blanket a black sheepskin, and a wool pillow was laid at the head; a rich Navajo blanket was folded and laid by the side of this bed. Now, all was in readiness and an early delivery was evidently expected. The woman would sit for a time either upon a low stool or a chair, and then pass about in evident pain, but no word of complaint escaped her lips; she was majestic in her dignity. But few words were spoken by anyone; all minds seemed centered on the important event to come. “It was a sacred hour, too sacred for spoken words, for Sûs´sĭstinnako was to bestow the gift of a new life.”
The whole affair was conducted with the greatest solemnity. At 11 o’clock the woman, whose suffering was now extreme, changed the small blanket which she wore around her for a larger one, which fell from her shoulders to the floor, and stood before the fireplace while the doctress standing behind her violently manipulated her abdomen with the palms of her hands. (The Zuñi observe a very different mode of manipulation.) The ho´naaite, who no longer acted professionally, but simply as the devoted father of the woman, took his seat upon a stool on the far side of the sand bed from the fireplace, the woman kneeling on the sand bed with her back to the fireplace and the doctress sitting on a low stool back of the woman. The woman clasped her hands about her father’s neck and was supported at the back by the doctress, who, encircling the woman with her arms, pressed upon the abdomen.[27] The father clasped his hands around his knees, holding a stone fetich of a cougar in the palm of the right hand, and the sister-in-law, standing to the left of the woman, placed the ear of corn to the top of the sufferer’s head and blew upon it during the periods of pain, to hasten the birth of the child. The prayer that was blown into the head was supposed to pass directly through the passageway of life. After each paroxysm the woman rose and passed about the room in a calm, quiet way. Sometimes she would sit on a low chair; again she would sit in front of the fire toasting her bare feet, and then leaving the extremely warm room would walk about outside of the house. The pains were very frequent for three hours, the longest interval being thirty minutes, the shortest thirty seconds, the average being ten minutes, the pains continuing from three to twenty minutes. Though her suffering was great, nothing more than a smothered groan escaped her lips. The doctress seemed perfectly ignorant and unable to render any real assistance.
The only attempt made by the doctress to hasten the birth was an occasional manipulation of the abdomen, after which she placed the ear of corn at the head of the woman, and after blowing upon it passed it down the middle of the body four times, as before, and the heating of the person by heaping a few coals upon the floor and putting upon them cobwebs, the woman standing over the coals while the mother held the blanket close around her feet. This failing in its desired effect, scrapings from one of the beams in an old chamber were placed on coals, the woman standing over the coals. It is claimed by the Sia that these two remedies are very old and were used when the world was new. After a time a third remedy was tried—the fat of a castrated sheep was put on coals heaped in a small bowl, the woman also standing over this—but all these remedies failed. The woman occasionally assisted herself with a circular stick 4 inches in length wrapped with cotton. After 2 o’clock a. m. the father became so fatigued that the sister-in-law, instead of blowing upon the corn, stood back of him and supported his forehead with her clasped hands. The ear of corn, when not in use, lay beside the sand bed. As the night waned the woman gradually became more and more exhausted, and at half past two the mother laid several sheepskins upon the floor and on these a blanket, placing two pillows at the head of this pallet, and then taking a pinch of meal from the bowl which was at the right side of the bed, which had been prepared for use after the birth, put it into the right hand of the woman, who now knelt upon the sand bed, leaning upon her father’s shoulder while he, in the deepest emotion, stroked her head. As the woman received the meal she raised her head and the sister-in-law handed the ear of corn to the father, who held it between his hands and prayed, then running the corn from the crown of the woman’s head down the body in a direct line and holding it vertically while the woman sprinkled the meal upon it and prayed to Ût´sět that she might pass safely through the trials of parturition. She was now so exhausted that she was compelled to lie on the pallet; twice she raised from the pallet and took position for delivery.
The two babies of the sister-in-law slept on blankets, and the two sons of the woman who had been sent from the room early in the evening had returned and were also sleeping on rugs. At 4 o’clock the parents, in alarm at the interrupted labor, sent for a prominent ho´naaite, and the husband of the woman, who had left the room at the approach of extreme labor. The husband, in company with the ho´naaite, soon appeared, the former removing both his moccasins, the latter the one from his right foot only. The newly arrived ho´naaite sent the sister-in-law for a small bowl of water, and into this he sprinkled a pinch of medicine (a specimen of this root was obtained) and then requested the woman to drink the water. It was with difficulty that she stood while she drank the medicine, and allowed the ho´naaite to practice his occult power, blowing upon the head and then blowing in a straight line down the center and in front of the body. The blowing was repeated four times, when the ho´naaite, standing back of the woman, put his arms around her, pressing hard upon the abdomen. After repeating a short prayer he replaced his moccasin and left the room, and the woman sank exhausted to her pallet, where she lay in a semi-conscious condition until half past 5 in the morning.
Fetiches of Quer´ränna and of the cougar had been placed under her pillow and a third fetich (a concretion) in her right hand. The father kept a constant vigil, while the anxious mother moved quietly about seeking to relieve the woman by many little attentions. The mental agony of the parents was great, the more intense sufferer being the father, whose devotion to his daughter through her entire illness seemed without precedent. At half past 5 the woman opened her eyes and, raising herself, clasped her father’s neck and made another great effort, and failing, she returned to her pallet, weeping from sheer discouragement. After a time the mother induced her to sit up and take food; a basket of waiavi and a piece of jerked meat which had been broiled over the coals in the same room were placed by the bed, when the mother hastened to another room for the corn-meal gruel she had prepared. (During the time this gruel is boiling it is dipped with a gourd and held high and poured back into the pot; after it is removed from the fire it is passed through this same process for some time. When it is ready to drink it is light and frothy. The mixture is composed of corn meal and water.) The woman ate quite heartily and drank two bowlfuls of the gruel. She had hardly finished her meal when she requested her father to hasten to his seat, and kneeling upon the sand bed she clasped his neck as before; the pain lasted but a minute and she returned to her bed. She was scarcely down, however, when she jumped up and knelt beside the pallet, the child being born by the time the woman’s knees had reached the floor, the birth occurring at half past 6 o’clock. The excitement was great, as the birth at this moment was a surprise. The father was too absorbed in his daughter to think much of the infant, but the old mother was frantic for fear the child would be smothered. The writer was called to hasten and rub the father’s moccasin down the woman’s back; the toe of the moccasin must be downward. This was to hasten the passage of the placenta, which promptly followed. A sheepskin was with difficulty gotten under the child, and finally the skin was pushed forward as the woman raised herself, and the child was taken by the doctress. The woman stood while the doctress raised the child and the sister-in-law the placenta four times to her face, as she expressed the wish that the umbilical cord might be severed without danger to the child. She then deliberately removed her belt and woven dress and walked to the bed which had been prepared for her and lay down.
The husband of the woman gave an extra sharpening to the knife which had lain upon the shelf, and handed it to the doctress, who, first placing the child upon the sand-bed, tied the umbilical cord an inch and a quarter from the umbilicus, and after cutting it removed the child, while the sister-in-law laid the placenta upon the sheepskin and swept the sands of the sand-bed upon a piece of cloth, placing the latter on the back of one of the little boys. Taking half of the raw cotton from the shelf, she laid it on the placenta, with the wish that the umbilicus might soon be healed; and folding the sheepskin, she deposited it in a shallow bowl, and taking a pinch of shell mixture in her right hand she carried the bowl from the house, followed by the boy. The sand and placenta were cast into the river; the woman saying, “Go! and when other women bear children may they promptly follow,” referring to the placenta.
To the doctress was brought a bowl of warm water, with which she bathed the child; then a bowl containing yucca and a small quantity of cold water and a vase of warm water were set by her, and after making a suds with the yucca she added warm water and thoroughly cleansed the child’s head, and then bathed the child a second time, in yucca suds, and taking water into her mouth from the bowl, she threw a solid stream over the child for a remarkable length of time. The child was rubbed with the hand, no cloth being used in the bathing. The greatest care was observed in cleansing the infant, who was afterward wrapped in a blanket and patted dry. During the bathing the grandparents, father, and brothers of the little one looked admiringly upon it, with frequent expressions of delight. The remaining portion of the umbilical cord was drawn through a wad of raw cotton, which was wrapped closely about it, and ashes were then rubbed over the child. The infant, a boy, weighed some 8 or 9 pounds, and its head was covered with a profusion of black silky hair; it had quite a perceptible red mark covering the center of its forehead. It seemed brighter from its birth than children of civilized parentage, and when twenty days old was as observing as many of our children at two months.
The cradle was brought forward by the grandfather, and the diminutive Navajo blanket spread over it. The tiny sheet was laid on the doctress’s lap under the child. The writer was then requested to rise and receive the child; and as she held the little one wrapped in the sheet the grandfather offered a prayer of thanksgiving, and after sprinkling meal upon the writer gave her a pinch of it. She could not dream what was expected of her, but she ventured to make four lines on the child’s breast, and sprinkled the remainder of the meal to the east. The venture was a happy one, for it was just right. The grandfather said: “The child is yours; I make it a gift to you.” The writer then returned the child to the doctress, and the grandfather proceeded to arrange the cradle, which has a transverse ridge, provided with a niche for the neck. Two bits of calico, folded several times, were laid on the blanket, and on this a piece of white cotton. The infant was placed nude upon its bed, and a piece of white cotton was laid over it from the neck to the lower part of the abdomen, extending on either side of the body and passing under the arms, the ends of the cloth being folded over the arms and tucked in on the inner sides. The little sheet was laid over the child, and the blanket folded around it; and then it was strapped to the cradle, which was deposited to the left side of the mother, on a white sheepskin. The ear of corn which had been such an important element previous to the birth was laid by the right side of the child. The grandfather, taking his seat at the foot of the cradle, deposited before him the three medicine bags which had been used in the ritual previous to the birth, and, holding his eagle plumes in his right hand, repeated a prayer. Two loosely twisted cords of native cotton, which had been prepared by the father of the infant immediately after the birth of the child, were placed under the mother’s pillow, to her right side; these were afterwards tied around the ankles of the infant, to indicate that it was a child of Sûs´sĭstinnako and that it might know this father. After the prayer the grandfather touched the head, either side and foot of the cradle, and the child’s body, with a spear point of obsidian; this was repeated four times for strength of body, limbs, heart, and mind of the child; and the spear was passed over the mother’s limbs and body for the same purpose. The grandfather then gave the child its first food by placing in his own mouth a pinch of a specially sacred and valuable medicine composed of the pollen of medicinal and edible plants and transferring it into the infant’s mouth from his. He then placed a bit with his fingers in the mother’s mouth. The medicine was given to the child that he might know all the medicines of the earth, and to the mother that her milk which was to nourish the infant might be good, so that the child’s heart and mind would be good.