Chapter 45

DOMESTIC LIFE: PREGNANCY, BIRTH, AND CHILDHOOD

DESIRE FOR PROGENY

The desire to fulfill the end of marriage is so strong that it may be said that there is almost rivalry and envy between the young men. Many a time I have heard the remark made that so and so is _a-yo-á-yo_--a sorry specimen of humanity--because he had no children. If you ask a Manóbo how many children he has he will seldom forget to tell you not only the number that died, but also the number of times that his wife suffered miscarriage, owing to a faulty selection of food, or to the noxious influence of some evil spirits, or to the violation of certain taboos, or to some other cause.

And thus it is that when the first evidences of motherhood manifest themselves, the husband procures a _white_ or _black_ chicken and after inviting a few friends, holds an informal party in honor of the occasion. I know of one case in which the ritual waving ceremony[1] took place on pregnancy, but it was performed, so the husband told me, because of a conjunction of ill omens, and not because such a ceremony was customary.

[1] _Kú-yab to má-nuk_.

BIRTH AND PREGNANCY TABOOS

The precautions taken by both husband and wife during pregnancy, as also on the approach of parturition, are evidence of the sacredness with which they guard the dearest hope of their married lives.

The following pregnancy and birth taboos, verified by the writer, hold with little variation in every part of the Agúsan Valley, and several of them are still adhered to by the Bisáyas of that region.[2]

[2] I find that some of these taboos are observed by the uneducated Tagalogs of Manila and by the peasants of Tayábas Province.

The general idea prevailing in the observation of these taboos is one of sympathy by which a certain action, productive of a certain physical effect in one subject may produce by some sympathetic correlation an analogous effect in another. An instance will make this clear. To wear a necklace is an action in itself perfectly innocuous and even beneficial, in so far as it enhances the person of the wearer, but for the Manóbo man and wife such a proceeding at this particular time would produce, by some species of mystic correlation, a binding effect on the child in the hour of parturition, and must accordingly be eschewed.

These taboos are in force from the time when the young wife announces her condition until the end of that trying period that follows conception.

TABOOS TO BE OBSERVED BY THE HUSBAND

1. He must avoid all untoward acts, such as quarreling and haggling.

2. His demeanor must be quiet; he must avoid noisy and impetuous actions, such as taking part in the capture of a domestic pig.

3. He must avoid all heavy work, such as the felling of trees, making of canoes, or erection of house posts.

4. He must not engage in any work connected with rattan, such as tying or splicing.

5. He must in no case use resin[3] for the purpose of sticking handles or shafts on weapons.

[3] _Sái-yung_ or _saung_.

TABOOS TO BE OBSERVED BY THE WIFE

1. She must not do any heavy work nor carry anything on her head.

2. She must not sit on a corner of the hearth frame.

3. While in a sitting posture she must leave one knee uncovered.

4. She must be careful in the selection of her food for a period that seems to depend, according to my observation, on individual whim.

Hence after the inception of pregnancy a woman becomes almost fastidious in the choice of her food. Her every whim must be catered to. No general rule can be given, but her general preference is for vegetable food, especially the core of the various wild palm trees,[4] plantains, and when obtainable, young coconuts. Acid fruits, such as the various species of lemons or the fruits of rattan vines, seem to be her special predilection.

[4] _Ó-bud_.

TABOOS TO BE OBSERVED BY BOTH HUSBAND AND WIFE

1. They must not thrust their hands through the floor nor through an opening in the walls of the house.

2. Anything taken by them from the fire must not be returned by them, but by a third party.

3. They must not return after having once started to descend the house ladder until they have reached the ground.

4. They must not sit at the entrance to the house in such a way as to impede free en trance or exit.

5. They must be careful that the firewood is not unusually speckled or dirty, as the child that is to come might be lacking in due comeliness. I have seen many a husband assiduously peeling off the bark from the more-ugly-looking firewood.

TABOOS ENJOINED ON VISITORS

Visitors also are cautioned and expected to observe the third and fourth taboos mentioned under the last section.[5]

[5] The taboo that forbids a visitor to sit at the door of the house is observed by the lower classes of Manila. Also the taboo that forbids quarreling.

ABORTION

Infanticide is never practiced; on the contrary, every means, natural, magic, and religious, are taken to safeguard the life of the babe. Abortion, however, occurs.

ARTIFICIAL ABORTION

Artifical[sic] abortion is unknown among the pagan Manóbos, but the Christianized members of the tribe who have come under the influence of culture of a different stamp, have acquired a knowledge of its practice for the purpose of concealing their condition and of thereby avoiding subsequent shame and trouble. For this purpose various vegetable products are used, such as the sap of the red dyewood,[6] the core of a wild palm,[7] the sap of black dyewood,[8] and the juice of mint.[9] I was told that these are very effective and, as a rule, not attended with evil consequences to the health of the woman.

[6] _Si-ká-lig_.

[7] Called _báñg-a_.

[8] _Tá-gum_.

[9] _La-bwé-na_.

INVOLUNTARY ABORTION

Involuntary abortion, however, is a matter of frequent, occurrence. It would be hard to form an approximate estimate, but, from the opinions expressed by several warrior chiefs and headmen, I believe that it occurs not infrequently. No explanation as to its cause was obtained. The fetus is usually buried without any ceremony under the house. In the upper Agúsan, the Manóbo follows a Mandáya custom by erecting over the grave, which is always under the house, an inverted cone of bamboo slatwork, about 30 centimeters high and 60 centimeters in diameter. The usual feelings of fright are not displayed on these occasions as on the death of one that has died an ordinary death, for the child has not yet been consociated with its two soul companions. Neither is the house abandoned, as would ordinarily be done on the death of an older person.

THE APPROACH OF PARTURITION

THE MIDWIFE[10]

[10] _Pa-na-gám-hon_.

About the seventh month when the expectant mother feels the quickening impulse of life within her, she selects a midwife and undergoes almost daily at her hands a massage, without which it is thought she would be in danger of a painful delivery. As far as I could learn, the method followed is such as to keep the creature in a vertical position within the womb, with the head downward. The massage is said to take place at the beginning of a lunar month. The midwife is eminently the most important personage in all that concerns birth. She is not necessarily a priestess, but is usually a relative of the prospective mother. She is always a woman of advanced age who has had abundant experience, and "has never lost a case." She is reputed to be versed in many secret medicines and devices necessary for the cure of any ailment proceeding from natural causes and connected with childbirth. I always found the midwife very reluctant to disclose the secrets of her profession.

When the woman announces the maternal pains, the midwife goes at once to the house, taking with her various herbs and other things, all carefully concealed on her person. She is not alone on such occasions, but is usually accompanied, if not preceded, by the greater portion of the female population in the community. Few of the male portion, and none of the bachelors, attend, but they keep themselves informed of the progress of the patient by frequent yells of inquiry from the neighboring houses.

The midwife bids the patient lie upon her back and, aided by a few relatives of the parturient, proceeds to administer one of the most ferocious massages imaginable. I witnessed one case in which the mother was tightly bound with swathing clothes and the husband called upon to exert his strength in an endeavor to force delivery.

As soon as it becomes apparent that the patient is in great pain, the midwife, and perhaps others expert in such matters, resort to means which are designed to produce an easy and speedy delivery.

PRENATAL MAGIC AIDS[11]

[11] _Ta-gi-á-mo_.

During several childbirths which I attended in various parts of the valley, I observed the use of the following aids to delivery:

1. A piece of rattan[12] is taken by one of the women present and, after being slightly burnt, is extinguished by the midwife and held close to the person[13] of the parturient. With her hands the midwife then wafts the smoke over the patient, muttering at the same time a formula.

[12] _Lá-gus_.

[13] Vulva.

The explanation of this procedure, as given to me in all cases, was the following: The rattan is symbolic of the various fleshy bonds with which the child is confined within the mother and as the rattan, wound round and round the various portions of the house, is an impediment to the removal of the piece which it retains, a piece of it is burnt in order that by some mystic power the puerperal bonds may be undone. During the burning the child is exhorted not to resemble the tardy rattan but to come forth free and untrammeled from its mortal tenement.

This charm, it was explained to me, counteracts the violations of the taboos whereby husband or wife, or both, are enjoined not to wear necklaces or bodily bindings, and not to work in rattan and resin, or to carry anything on the head. Should the burning of a piece of rattan be omitted, it is believed that the umbilical cord[14] would be found to have actually become tangled around the neck or body of the child during the act of delivery, thereby increasing the difficulty and the danger.

[14] _Pó-sud_.

2. The burning of a small piece of the house ladder[15] and the subsequent fumigation of the person of the parturient are practiced in identically the same manner as the above, and are thought to neutralize the evil effects that might result from the transgressions, even involuntary, of those taboos which forbid that anyone should sit at the door of a pregnant woman's house, or return to the house after having begun his descent down the house pole or ladder.

[15] _Pá-sung_.

3. A third magic means, helpful in birth, is the consuming of a portion of the hearth frame followed, as described above, by a fumigation of a part of the patient's person. The particular effect of this charm is to counteract the evil influences which might otherwise result to the child from the nonobservance of the various other taboos mentioned previously.

4. Finally, various herbs, of which I did not learn the names because of secretiveness on the part of the women, are put on a plate or on anything that is convenient, and burned. On one occasion I observed that the leaves[16] used to cover sweetpotatoes and other vegetables during the process of steaming were employed, and on another I procured a piece of grass that had fallen from the plate and later on I ascertained it to be the leaf of a variety of bamboo. I was unable to learn the purpose of this charm, the replies being contradictory or variable in different localities.

[16] _Tú-yus_.

The midwife applies numerous other medicinal herbs and has various other secret expedients of which I have been utterly unable to learn the nature. In one case a midwife claimed to have a bezoar stone[17] found in the body of an eel. This could not be seen, for it was wrapped in cloth. When the patient gave signs of suffering, she would dip this stone in water and rub it over the woman's abdomen.

[17] _Mút-ya_.

PRENATAL RELIGIOUS AIDS

It is very rarely, indeed, that any serious difficulty is encountered in childbirth, but I have been informed that difficulties are occasionally met with. In such cases, when all human resources fail, the matter is said to be left in the hands of the family priestesses and the usual religious invocation and rites are performed. In every case one or more priestesses are present, and take the usual precautions, such as the placing of lemon and _sasá_ reed under the house, against the approach of evil spirits.

ACCOUCHEMENT AND ENSUING EVENTS

The midwife and her companions continue to assist the patient until the moment of delivery, which takes place ordinarily within from four to six hours after the first pangs of childbirth have been felt. The umbilical cord is immediately cut with a sliver[18] of bamboo, and the mother is made to sit up at once in order to prevent a reflux of the afterbirth into the womb. At least such is the reason assigned for this last practice.

[18] _Ba-lís_.

The child is immediately washed with water and some medicine sprinkled over its navel.[19] It is then returned to its mother. Should the birth have occurred during the period between new and full moon, it is said that the child will have good luck[20] during life.

[19] I was informed on one occasion that the medicine used was pulverized coconut shell, but this point needs further inquiry.

[20] _Paí-ad_.

I desire to call special attention here to the fact that should the mother be in such a condition that she is unable to nourish her babe, it is not given to another woman for nurture, but is sustained temporarily on soup, rice water, and sugarcane juice. I have heard of several cases in which the child succumbed for want of natural nourishment. One case that occurred in San Luis on the middle Agúsan, I verified beyond a doubt. Father Pastells, S. J.,[21] states that if the child can not be suckled, it is buried alive, its mouth being sometimes filled with ashes. I, however, have never heard of such a practice.

[21] Cartas de los PP. de la Compañia de Jesus, 8, 1879.

The reason for allowing no woman other than the mother to nourish the child is that, if the child were nourished by another woman, it would die. In this connection it may be well to state that infant mortality is high. I do not hesitate to say that it is not less than 25 per cent and may be 33.5 per cent.

The afterbirth, together with the umbilical cord, is nearly always buried under the house. I was told that it is sometimes wrapped up and hung from the beams that are just under the hearth. No reason is given for the selection of this particular place, except that "no one passes there."

POSTNATAL CUSTOMS

As a rule parturition is not attended with much weakness nor with any danger. In fact, the mother usually can move around the house on the day following the birth or even on the same day. After two or three days she purifies herself by an informal bath, which is taken more for sanitary than for ceremonial reasons, as far as I have been able to ascertain.

TABOOS

For a period of a week, more or less, the mother must refrain from the use of all food except the following: The core of the wild palm tree, native rice, fresh fish, and chicken. The chicken must be of a certain color; in the lake region of the Agúsan Valley it must be either black or white, and the leg must be dark in color.

Bathing is interdicted for two or three days according to the custom of the locality.

After bathing, the new mother and her husband leave the house in order that the little one may have good luck, and also that they themselves may be removed from the malign influence of the malevolent spirits that are inevitably present on the occasion of a birth.

The birth festivity is not a very solemn nor magnificent affair. The midwife and a few friends, perhaps a dozen in all, are invited. It is at the end of this repast that some little remuneration is made to the midwife and to the priestess for their services. Among the pagan Manóbos there seems to be no fixed rule as to the amount to be given to the midwife, but among the _conquistas_ or Christianized tribes, there prevails the customary price of P1.50 for the first birth, P1.00 for the second, and P0.50 for the third and all successive ones.

THE BIRTH CEREMONY[22]

[22] _Tag-un-ún to bá-ta_.

When the child is born it is supposed not yet to have received the two spirit companions[23] that are to accompany it during its earthly pilgrimage. Whence proceed these spirit-companions, or what is their nature, I have not been able to learn to my satisfaction. _Mandáit_, the tutelary god of the little ones, after being invoked and appeased with offerings, is supposed to select two spirit companions out of the multitudinous beings that hover over human haunts. These spirits then become guardians, as it were, of the child, and do not separate themselves from him till one of them becomes the prey of some foul demon.

[23] _Um-a-gád_, from _á-gad_, to accompany.

These spirit companions are said to be invisible, and in physical appearance like their corporal companion,[24] whose every action they are supposed to imitate. As was explained to me, when we sit down, our spirit companions also sit down, and when we dress, they also prepare themselves, and when we go forth they accompany us. When the mother leaves the house with her babe, she adjures the spirits to follow and to guard their ward. Of the effect and purpose of this consociation no very definite explanation has so far been given to me.

[24] In stature they are described as being somewhat smaller.

The rites of the birth ceremony are observed usually within a month after the birth. There seems to be no stated time, but according to my observation and information they take place on the first symptoms of sickness, or of unusual restlessness on the part of the child. It is firmly believed and openly avowed that these symptoms are due to the machinations of Mandáit, who is desirous of being regaled with a fowl, for he, like all his fellow spirits, is an epicure and likes the good things of this world.

The ceremony begins with an invocation to Mandáit. A tiny canoe, more or less perfect in design and equipment, according to the caprice and skill of the fashioner, is made, and is hung up in the house after sunset. The nearer relatives assemble and a priest, preferably a relative, takes the chicken that has already been dedicated[25] to Mandáit, and waves it over the babe and around the house, in order to ward off all such bad influences and harmful spirits as might be flitting around, for in the Manóbo's mind, there are not a few of these demons waiting to devour the expected spirit companions.

[25] _Sin-ug-bá-han_.

The chicken is killed and the head, legs, and wings offered to Mandáit. To these delicacies are added little leaf packages of cooked maize[26] or native rice.[27] The priest, on these occasions invariably a woman, goes through her invocations while the offerings are being placed on the ceremonial boat. She burns incense[28] whose fragrance is said to be especially acceptable to Mandáit. By the direction of the smoke, she ascertains the position of Mandáit and of her own guardian or familiar spirit, and turning to him, welcomes him. She falls into the usual state of tremor during which Mandáit is supposed to partake spiritually of the repast set out for him.

[26] _Búd-bud_.

[27] _Ba-kí_.

[28] _Pa-lí-na_, the gum of the _ma-gu-bái_ tree.

This ceremony being concluded, the fowl is partaken of, and a little sugarcane beverage[29] is drunk, if it can be obtained. After the meal, the priestess recounts in the old archaic language of song the chronicles of bygone days. This is taken up by such other makers of Manóbo monody as may be present. If the child proves to be restless, it is lulled to sleep with the weird staccato of the bamboo guitar.[30] During the course of the night the two souls are supposed to enter into mystic consociation with the babe, and thenceforth to be its companions.

[29] _Ín-tus_.

[30] _Tan-kó_.

The following morning the priestess removes the little leaf packages and, placing them on a rice winnow, tosses them into the air. The children present at once grab for the packages. The ceremonial canoe, however, with the offering of fowl, must be left suspended indefinitely.

In the lower half of the Agúsan Valley from San Luis to the mouth of the Agúsan, a tray of bamboo trelliswork is used for the offering to Mandáit instead of the sacrificial canoe described above. Otherwise the ritual is identical.

THE NAMING AND CARE OF THE CHILD

The child receives, without any ceremony or formality, a name that seems to depend on the caprice of the parents. It is usually that of some famed ancestor, or of some well-known Manóbo but at other times it may depend on some happening at the birth. Thus the writer knows of Manóbos who bore the names Bágio (Typhoon), Línug (earthquake), Bádau (dagger), Bíhag (captive), Áñglañg (slave), Ká-ug (maggot).

The child is treated by the parents and by the other relatives with the greatest tenderness. He is petted and pampered from his very youngest days, and punishment of any kind is seldom administered. A hammock made out of a hemp skirt or a little bamboo frame, suspended by a string from a bamboo pole in the fishing-rod style, is often provided for his resting place. He is tenderly set in one of these by day, and the usual little maternal devices are used to keep him from crying and to put him to sleep.

When the little fellow is somewhat bigger and stronger, he is carried about with his legs straddled across his mother's hip, or allowed to crawl around the floor. If the mother has to absent herself and there is no one to watch him, he is simply tied to the floor and left to his own thoughts. He is not weaned till the advent of another child, or till he of his own accord relinquishes the breast. His dress is of the simplest in most cases.

As soon as the male child reaches the age of 7 to 8 years, and is able to run around, he not infrequently accompanies his father or any other male relative on a fishing or on a hunting expedition, often carrying the betel-nut bag or some other object at times almost too heavy for his tender years. While at home he is often in an emergency sent out to do little chores. He is bidden to run out and get some betel leaf or some firewood from the surrounding forest, or again is sent for a little water. Such errands, however, are the exception. He has most of his time to himself, and passes it in merry rompings with his little brothers and cousins. If he lives near the river he spends a few hours a day in the water, bathing, splashing his playmates, and catching frogs and other edibles. A favorite pastime of his is to make a diminutive bow and ply his arrows at some old stump or some unlucky lizard or other living thing that he may have espied. If monkeys, crows, or other bold marauders are overnumerous, he probably has to sit out in the rude watch-house in the little clearing and keep the scarecrows moving, or by shouts and other means drive off the uninvited pests.

He soon learns to smoke tobacco, to chew betel nut, and even to take a drink of the brew that is being passed around, and thus he grows up to be, at the age of 14 or 15, a little full-fledged man with his teeth blackened, his lips stained, and his bolo at his side.

He enters youth without any special ceremony. It is true that as the boy grows to puberty his teeth are ground and blackened and he is tatooed[sic] and circumcised. Such operations might be considered as an initiation into manhood or at least as a survival of a custom that is so much in vogue in certain parts of Oceania. In other words, the youth begins to tattoo and to assume other ornamentation in order that he may attract the attention of the female portion of the tribe.

It is needless to say that he receives no schooling. In fact, the average Manóbo who has not come in contact with civilization would not know what to think of a pencil. On one occasion I accidentally allowed some Manóbos to see my pencil. The sight of it aroused an animated discussion as to the nature of the tree that yielded such peculiar wood. All the schooling which the Manóbo boy gets is from the forest and the streams. From them he learns to trap the timid deer and to catch the wily fish. In them he acquires a quick step, a sharp eye, and a keen ear. In the ways of nature he is a scholar, because the first moment that he can clamber down the notched pole he betakes himself to the surrounding forest and schools himself in all her ways and moods.

As soon as the boy reaches the age at which he feels that he is a man, he ceases to be under paternal restraint, which even up to that age has been more or less lax. At this period he assumes as much independence as his father, but will obey any behest without understanding the propriety or the necessity of complying. As a general rule, filial relations are most cordial, and great respect is entertained for both parents, but it may be said that male children respect and love the father, while girls love their mother.

BIRTH ANOMALIES

MONSTROSITIES

Monstrosities are extremely rare. I met only one case, that of a child with an abnormally large head.[31] Idiocy also is very uncommon, only one case having come under my observation.

[31] Bása, Simúlao River, middle Agúsan.

ALBINISM

Albinism also is very infrequent. An albino is considered to be the child of an evil spirit in so far as one of those relentless demons is supposed to have exercised a malign influence on the mother. It is believed that an albino can pay nightly visits to the haunt of its demon sire. Among the Mandáyas on the upper Kati'il River, I saw some 12 cases of albinism in a settlement of about 500 Mandáyas. No explanation was obtained as I did not think it prudent at the time to ask for one.

HERMAPHRODITISM

Hermaphrodites,[32] in a secondary sense, are found occasionally. I am personally acquainted with five. In every case they were womanly in their ways, showing a preference for sewing, and other occupations of women, and frequenting the company of women more than that of men.

[32] _Bán-tut_ (Mandáya _bi-dó_).

In one case at San Isidro, Simúlao River, an hermaphrodite, a fine specimen of manhood to all appearances, was dressed as a woman. In another case a Mandáya hermaphrodite of the Báklug River, a few miles south of Compostela, was married. I was informed on all hands that the marriage was for the purpose of securing the alliance of the hermaphrodite's relatives against certain hereditary enemies and that probably there would be no issue. I hope to get further information on this point at a future date.

On the Lamíñga River, a tributary of the Kasilaían River, there lived a woman who presented all the outward characteristics of a man. Her voice was deep and resonant, her countenance of a male type. She constantly carried a bolo, by day and by night, and in manual labor, such as building houses, was the equal of any man in the settlement. She had never married and had always rejected overtures toward marriage.