Here, decked with shoulder-belts, armlets, leglets just below
the knees, and anklets, wearing a chaplet on her head, and shell
ornaments in her ears, on her chest, and on her back, she squats in
the midst of the bushes, which are piled so high round about her
that only her head is visible. In this state of seclusion she must
remain for three months. All this time the sun may not shine upon
her, but at night she is allowed to slip out of the hut, and the
bushes that hedge her in are then changed. She may not feed herself
or handle food, but is fed by one or two old women, her maternal
aunts, who are especially appointed to look after her. One of these
women cooks food for her at a special fire in the forest. The girl
is forbidden to eat turtle or turtle eggs during the season when the
turtles are breeding; but no vegetable food is refused her. No man,
not even her own father, may come into the house while her seclusion
lasts; for if her father saw her at this time he would certainly
have bad luck in his fishing, and would probably smash his canoe the
very next time he went out in it.
Pages:
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671