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Chapter Eleven. Sacred Chiefs |
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beliefs concerning child birth |
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One of the Joboka men wore a neatly plaited gauntlet of red cane, instead of the usual loose cane rings. I wanted to buy it, but he explained that he could not sell the gauntlet, for his pregnant wife had plaited it and in case of a difficult delivery the gauntlet would have to be cut into pieces. It is a general belief among the Nagas that during a difficult delivery all baskets in the house must be cut open and all knots loosened. The idea seems to be that their loosening facilitates in some magical way the loosening of the child from the mother's womb. |
