In or about the seventh month of pregnancy (mĕngandong tujoh bulan) a “Bidan”[15] (sage femme) is engaged (mĕnĕmpah), the ceremony being described as follows:—
A copper vessel called chĕrana (which is something like a fruit-dish with a stand or foot to it) is filled with four or five peeled areca-nuts, a small block of gambier, a portion of lime (kapor sa-pĕrkaporan), a “tahil” (sa-tahil) of tobacco, and three or four packets (susun) of betel-leaf, and carried to the Bidan’s house, where it is presented to her with the words, “I wish to engage you for my child” (Ini’ku mahu mĕnĕmpah anak’ku), or words to that effect.[16]
Usually the contents of the chĕrana are enclosed in small brass receptacles, but on such occasions as the present no receptacles are used, the usual accessories of the betel-chewing ceremony being deposited in the chĕrana itself. The Bidan, on receiving the chĕrana, and charming the contents, inverts it, pouring out (di-chorahkan) its contents upon the floor, and taking omens for the coming event from the manner in which they fall.[17] She then commences to chew the betel-leaf, and when she has taken as much as she requires, she generally performs some species of divination (tengo’ dalam pĕtua) in order to ascertain the nature of the child’s horoscope. This object may be achieved in several ways; e.g. by astrological calculations; by casting up (palak or falakiah) the numerical values of the letters of both parents’ names, in accordance with the abjad, or secret cipher alphabet;[18] by observance of a wax taper fixed upon the brim of a jar of water (dian di tĕpi buyong ayer); and by observance of a cup of “betel-leaf water” (ayer sirih).[19]
When the time arrives the Bidan is sent for and escorted to the spot, where she points out the luckiest place in the house for the child to be born. Such a spot must not be under the ends of the slats of the palm-thatch, but between them, the exact spot being discovered by repeatedly dropping the blade of a hatchet or cutlass haft downwards into the ground below the raised floor of the house, until a spot is found wherein it sticks and remains upright. A rattan loop (tali anggas) to enable the patient to raise herself to a sitting posture, is suspended from the rafters over the spot selected,[20] while just exactly beneath it under the floor of the house (which is raised on piles like the old Swiss lake-dwellings) are fastened a bunch of leaves of the prickly pandanus, the “acid” egg-plant,[21] and a lĕkar jantan, which is a kind of rattan stand used for Malay cooking-pots. The leaves of these plants are used because it is thought that their thorns will prick any evil spirit[22] which tries to get at the child from below, whilst the circular cooking-pot stand will act as a noose or snare. Over the patient’s head, and just under the rafters, is spread a casting-net (jala), together with a bunch of leaves of the red dracæna (jĕnjuang or lĕnjuang merah) and the “acid” egg-plant.[23]
A big tray (talam) is now filled with a measure of uncooked husked rice (b’ras sa-gantang), and covered over with a small mat of screw-palm leaves (tikar mĕngkuang). This mat is in turn covered with from three to seven thicknesses of fine Malay sarongs (a sort of broad plaid worn as a skirt), and these latter again are surmounted by a second mat upon which the newly-born infant is to be deposited.
The next process is the purification of mother and child by a ceremony which consists of bathing both in warm water just not hot enough to scald the skin (ayer pĕsam-pĕsam jangan mĕlochak kulit), and in which are leaves of lĕngkuas, halia, kunyit t’rus, kunyit, pandan bau, areca-palm blossom, and the dried leaves (kĕronsong or kĕresek) of the pisang k’lat. This has to be repeated (every?) morning and evening. In most places the new-born infant is, as has been said, laid upon a mat and formally adopted by the father, who breathes into the child’s ear[24] a sort of Muhammadan prayer or formula, which is called bang in the case of a boy, and kamat in the case of a girl. After purification the child is swaddled in a sort of papoose; an inner bandage (barut) is swathed round the child’s waist, and a broad cloth band (kain lampin) is wound round its body from the knees to the breast, after which the outer bandage (kain bĕdong) is wound round the child’s body from the feet to the shoulder, and is worn continually until the child is three or four months old, or, in Malay parlance, until he has learned to crawl (tahu mĕniarap). This contrivance, it is alleged, prevents the child from starting and straining its muscles. Over the child’s mat is suspended a sort of small conical mosquito-net (kain bochok), the upper end of which is generally stitched (di-sĕmat) or pinned on to the top of the parent’s mosquito curtain, and which is intended to protect the child from any stray mosquito or sandfly which may have found its way into the bigger net used by his parents.
Next comes the ceremony of marking the forehead (chonting muka), which is supposed to keep the child from starting and straining itself (jangan tĕrkĕjut tĕrkĕkau), and from convulsions (sawan), and at the same time to preserve it from evil spirits. The following are the directions:—Take chips of wood from the thin end (kapala?) of the threshold, from the steps of the house-ladder, and from the house furniture, together with a coat (kesip) of garlic, a coat of an onion, assafœtida, a rattan cooking-pot stand, and fibre from the “monkey-face” of an unfertile cocoa-nut (tampo’ niyor jantan). Burn all these articles together, collect the ashes, and mix them by means of the fore-finger with a little “betel-water.”
Now repeat the proper charm,[25] dip the finger in the mixture, and mark the centre of the child’s forehead, if a boy with a sign resembling what is called a bench mark
, if a girl with a plain cross +, and at the same time put small daubs on the nose, cheeks, chin, and shoulders. Then mark the mother with a line drawn from breast to breast (pangkah susu) and a daub on the end of the nose (cholek hidong). If you do this properly, a Langat Malay informed me, the Evil One will take mother and child for his own wife and child (who are supposed to be similarly marked) and will consequently refrain from harming them!