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The Birth of a Child
Birth of the first child after marriage, in particular is a great
event in any household, specially in affluent families which have had
no children.
On conception, the women is not allowed to sleep alone or
go out after dusk or eat spicy foods. At eclipses she has
to lie down without moving her legs. She is not supposed to cross a river
or climb a hill during pregnancy.
A ceremony called 'Valaikauppu' is held in the
fifth or seventh month of pregnancy, when the pregnant woman is presented
with new sets of bangles. Her mother-in-law or sister-in-law leads
her to the temple and to a bangle shop where she selects the bangles of
her choice. Some families arrange to get the bangle-seller to their houses
and the purchase of the bangles is a part of the ritual. She seeks blessing
of elderly men and women after putting on the bangles.
During the sixth or eighth month of pregnancy, a ceremony
called 'Seemantham', a sacrificial fire is lit and the husband and his
wife pray jointly for the gift of child and for safe delivery by circumbulating
the fire. The woman prays that she may beget a son in her first pregnancy,
possibly to prevent the husband or his mother nursing a grievance if a
girl is born.
When the wife is pregnant, orthodox Brahmins are not
expected to shave their beard. Shaving is supposed to affect the
child in the womb. To ensure that no child is born in the hot month of
Chitrai, efforts are taken even ten months earlier, in the month of Adi
to separate the newly-married couple for a whole month. This is known
as 'Aaskku-Azhaithal'.
After delivery, the women and her off-spring are kept
in seclusion for about a fort-night. On the seventh or eleventh day after
the birth of child, relatives bathe the child and place him /her in a
cradle bedecked with flowers. Usually the child is given the name of the
grandfather, grandmother or name of a recently deceased kith or kin or
the family deity. The child is adorned with a waist ring made up of Erukku
(calotropis gignate) hark fiber, on which are strung some heads made out
of the roots tops of garlic, a copper coin with the figure of a dog stamped
on it, a crescent shaped copper, amulet and a metallic cylindrical amulet
within which is embedded a bit of the umbilical cord of the child. A necklace
of red and white glass beads strung alternatively is placed around the
neck.
The Christians of Tamil Nadu take the child after the
seventh day, preferably on the Sunday, to the church for Baptism. Some
relative or friend is chosen as the Baptist mother and father. The name
of the Baptist mother and father are mentioned in the certificate issued
by the church. The larger the number of occasions on which a person has
acted Baptist mother, the greater is her place in social life.
The Mudavas of the Palani hill bathe the mother and the
child in river-water three days after the delivery. An important function
is the first ceremonial shaving and the piercing of the ears. The child
is tonsured, bathed and dressed in gay attire, his /her ears pierce and
adorned with ear-rings. Kith and kin join together to celebrate the event. |
