| caption: |
Chapter Three. Phases of Life |
| caption: |
prohibition on strangers entering infant's house |
| text: |
The house containing the newborn child was closed to strangers from other villages for six days, and people from distant villages beyond the river were not permitted to enter it for one whole month. To prevent the accidental entrance of strangers, the house of the newborn child was marked with a symbol: a bunch of leafy bamboos in the case of a boy, and a branch of cane if the newborn was a girl. |
