20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Childbirth and related rituals, in Albania... 465items such as handkerchief, socks, working tools, etc. At some point intime, when a boy was born, they used to shoot in the air three, five or seventimes. Very often, when a boy was born, they used to say, “the sky of thishouse is open”, “The doors are now open” or “The boy is the pillar of thehouse”, while in cases a girl there was no particular celebration. The generalexpressions for congratulations when a boy was born – in an atmospheresimilar to a wedding, were, “long life to the boy and congratulations as heenlightened the house!” When a girl was born, the expressions used were,“long life to her and thanks God the mother is safe”. (Tirta, 2003: 318)A number of customs and rituals applied after the delivery such asbathing the baby, selection of the name, putting the baby in the cradle,haircutting of the baby, the day of the name, the day when the first tooth ofthe baby appeared, the moment when the child stood for the first time onhis / her feet, the circumcision, the baptizing, etc.It was good if the baby was put in the cradle for the first time under theold moon since it was believed that the child will be thus be more attachedto the cradle. Usually, the child was tied in the cradle, after a bellwether hadbeen put there, according to the belief that the child would grow healthy asa bellwether.In some areas of Albania, on the third day after birth of a baby, willtake place a ceremony for breaking the bread. Such ceremony was led onlyby a man whose father and mother were still alive. After that, the childwas brought among people and tied in his / her cradle. The father took thebaby in his hands, dressed him with a shirt, and put the child back in thecradle. After that, he broke the bread over the cradle. 1 A piece of the breadcontaining the silver coin was put under the pillow of the baby, while theother part was divided between those who were present.The third day after the birth, a supper was dedicated to this event,where relatives and parents of the young mother participated. It wasbelieved that during this supper, the fate of the child was decided by threewomen named as “The Good”. They came into the house where the babywas born, sit next to him and each of them starting carrying out a certainjob. (Mitrushi, 1972: 116)The first prepared the wool, the second gave to the wool a shape and thethird would put the prepared wool together. While doing such work, theywere consulting with each other talking about what fate to dedicate to thechild. It was so believed that whatever happened to a person was subject to1The bread was made out of wheat flour and honey and a coin of silver have beeninserted in it.