The
new born Akha baby will be watched by the parents that will be a boy or
a girl. If the new born baby is a boy, there will be a pride of the
father according to the Akha's belief that a boy will be the only one
who descends. If we talk about the giving birth of Akha tribe or others
hill tribes, we are not talking about giving birth at the hospital
which will receive good care from a nurse. They do not receive a
convenient thing such as declaring the birth, adding name in the census
record or the right that a baby should receive. In the opposite way,
giving birth, in the past, will do in the community that has a midwife
of Akha called “Ya Chi A Ma” using their wit and local equipment i.e.
using a clean sharp “Heir” wood instead of scissor to cut the umbilical
cord and a mother takes a rest for a few days and get back to work.
When a baby born in the community that is situated far away from
civilization, a baby will not receive the right according to the law
because the tribe do not know about the declaring the birth which is
the problem until now. At present Akha has more knowledge in management
because the new generation goes to school and has been educated and
bring back the knowledge to use with the community.
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Birth
In
the past, the daughter-in-law could not give birth in her own house,
she had to give birth at the other house where especially build for her
unlikely the daughter of the owner of the house. For the people who
will be making the birth is the third-aged person who has knowledge in
making birth or a midwife in the village which Akha called “Ya Chi A
Ma”. Ya Chi A Ma use a sharp “Heir” wood to cut the umbilical cord and
tie it with string. Ya Chi A Ma brings a baby to a mother and buries a
placenta at the basement near the main column of the house. The
placenta has fork out by wood and is bury by placing the top over and
closing the hole by the wood then the next day before dawn, covers up
the hole by the ashes. After Ya Chi A Ma brings a baby to a mother, a
mother has to bring a baby sits on the chair at the main column of the
house then Ya Chi A Ma gives a boiled egg to a mother to eat according
to Akha's belief that boiled egg can reduce pain and reduce bleeding.
Moreover, Akha tights a gold or silver plate like Eve's fig leaf called
“Jey Jong” at the stomach believes that is the one way to cure the
disease. To tighten the stomach helps the symptom of a dizzy or a
stroke of a newly given baby mother. A mother will wear Akha hat to a
baby after that will bring a baby to do the naming ceremony and
performing rites welcoming. Within 9-10 days after giving birth, a
mother and a baby must stay inside the house to lie near an open fire
for warmth as well as sanitation (called Ya Seu Long Aeo). When the
umbilical cord comes off and finds it, Akha brings it to bury with the
placenta. |
A
mother takes her baby to visit relative within the village, this counts
as the first time to take baby to greet villagers. Ten days later, a
mother has to take her baby travel outside the village and on the way
back, if her baby is a girl, she has to bring a leaf back to home and
if a baby is a boy, she has to bring a treetop. This tells a sex of her
baby.
To name a baby:
When
a baby born in the first day, a midwife will give name to a baby and
make the spiritual ceremony. Giving name to a baby does according to
the Akha tradition that is using the last word of a father's name to be
a first character of a baby when the ceremony done a parent can not
tell a baby name for nine to ten days. |
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