When her baby is born, the mother mustn’t have her other children round her. The people present should be the husband, the village leaders, and the couple’s parents. Three couples. The parents are often away in other places, so if they can’t be there, the husband’s father and the wife’s mother can perhaps make up one pair. If one of the village leaders can’t come, one of them should be there to make up a couple with one of the parents. If none of the parents can come, some aunts and uncles should come to represent the family on both sides, because the child is to be part of the community. The birth of a new member is very significant for the community, as it belongs to the community not just to the parents, and that’s why three couples (but not just anybody) must be there to receive it. They explain that this child is the fruit of communal love. If the village leader is not a midwife as well, another midwife is called (it might be a grandmother) to receive the child. Our customs don’t allow single women to see a birth. But it does happen in times of need. For instance, I was with my sister when she went into labour. Nobody else was at home. This was when we were being heavily persecuted. Well, I didn’t exactly see, but I was there when the baby was born.
My mother was a midwife from when she was sixteen right up to her death at forty-three. She used to say that a woman hadn’t the strength to push the baby out when she’s lying down. So what she did with my sister was to hang a rope from the roof and pull her up, because my brother wasn’t there to lift her up. My mother helped the baby out with my sister in that position. It’s a scandal if an Indian woman goes to hospital and gives birth there. None of our women would agree to that. Our ancestors would be shocked at many of the things which go on today. Family planning, for example. It’s an insult to our culture and a way of swindling the people, to get money out of them.
This is part of the reserve that we’ve maintained to defend our customs and our culture. Indians have been very careful not to disclose any details of their communities, and the community does not allow them to talk about Indian things. I too must abide by this. This is because many religious people have come among us and drawn a false impression of the Indian world. We also find a ladino using Indian clothes very offensive. All this has meant that we keep a lot of things to ourselves and the community doesn’t like us telling its secrets. This applies to all our customs. When the Catholic Action* arrived, for instance, everyone started going to mass, and praying, but it’s not their only religion, not the only way they have of expressing themselves. Anyway, when a baby is born, he’s always baptized within the community before he’s taken to church. Our people have taken Catholicism as just another channel of expression, not our one and only belief. Our people do the same with other religions. The priests, monks and nuns haven’t gained the people’s confidence because so many of their things contradict our own customs. For instance, they say: ‘You have too much trust in your elected leaders.’ But the village elects them because they trust them, don’t they? The priests say: ‘The trouble is you follow those sorcerers,’ and speak badly of them. But for our people this is like speaking ill of their own fathers, and they lose faith in the priests. They say: ‘Well, they’re not from here, they can’t understand our world.’ So there’s not much hope of winning our people’s hearts.
To come back to the children, they aren’t to know how the baby is born. He’s born somewhere hidden away and only the parents know about it. They are told that a baby has arrived and that they can’t see their mother for eight days. Later on, the baby’s companion, the placenta that is, has to be burned at a special time. If the baby is born at night, the placenta is burned at eight in the morning, and if he’s born in the afternoon, it’ll be burned at five o’clock. This is out of respect for both the baby and his companion. The placenta is not buried, because the earth is the mother and the father of the child and mustn’t be abused by having the placenta buried in it. All these reasons are very important for us. Either the placenta is burned on a log and the ashes left there, or else it is put in the temascal. This is a stove which our people use to make vapour baths. It’s a small hut made of adobe and inside this hut is another one made of stone, and when we want to have a bath, we light a fire to heat the stones, close the door, and throw water on the stones to produce steam. Well, when the woman is about four months pregnant, she starts taking these baths infused with evergreens, pure natural aromas. There are many plants the community uses for pregnant women, colds, headaches, and things like that. So the pregnant mother takes baths with plants prescribed for her by the midwife or the village leader. The fields are full of plants whose names I don’t know in Spanish. Pregnant women use orange and peach leaves a lot for bathing and there’s another one we call Saint Mary’s leaf which they use. The mother needs these leaves and herbs to relax because she won’t be able to rest while she’s pregnant since our women go on working just as hard in the fields. So, after work, she takes this calming bath so that she can sleep well, and the baby won’t be harmed by her working hard. She’s given medicines to take as well. And leaves to feed the child. I believe that in practice (even if this isn’t a scientific recommendation) these leaves work very well, because many of them contain vitamins. How else would women who endure hunger and hard work give birth to healthy babies? I think that these plants have helped our people survive.
The purity with which the child comes into the world is protected for eight days. Our customs say that the newborn baby should be alone with his mother in a special place for eight days, without any of her other children. Her only visitors are the people who bring her food. This is the baby’s period of integration into the family; he very slowly becomes a member of it. When the child is born, they kill a sheep and there’s a little fiesta just for the family. Then the neighbours start coming to visit, and bring presents. They either bring food for the mother, or something for the baby. The mother has to taste all the food her neighbours bring to show her appreciation for their kindness. After the eight days are over, the family counts up how many visitors the mother had, and how many presents were received; things like eggs or food apart from what was brought for the mother, or clothing, small animals, and wood for the fire, or services like carrying water and chopping wood. If, during the eight days, most of the community has called, this is very important, because it means that this child will have a lot of responsibility towards his community when he grows up. The community takes over all the household expenses for these eight days and the family spends nothing.
After eight days everything has been received, and another animal is killed as recognition that the child’s right to be alone with his mother is over. All the mother’s clothes, bedclothes, and everything she used during the birth, are taken away by our elected leader and washed. She can’t wash them in the well, so no matter how far away the river is, they must be carried and washed there. The baby’s purity is washed away and he’s ready to learn the ways of humanity. The mother’s bed is moved to a part of the house which has first been washed with water and lime. Lime is sacred. It strengthens the child’s bones. I believe this really is true. It gives a child strength to face the world. The mother has a bath in the temascal and puts on clean clothes. Then, the whole house is cleaned. The child is also washed and dressed and put into the new bed. Four candles are placed on the corners of the bed to represent the four corners of the house and show him that this will be his home. They symbolize the respect the child must have for his community, and the responsibility he must feel towards it as a member of a household. The candles are lit and give off an incense which incorporates the child into the world he must live in. When the baby is born, his hands and feet are bound to show him that they are sacred and must only be used to work or do whatever nature meant them to do. They must never steal or abuse the natural world, or show disrespect for any living thing.
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