20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Childbirth and related rituals, in Albania... 469tooth with either gold or silver according to the belief that in this way theteeth will become strong. [In Devoll (Xhaçka, 1959: 200), in Myzeqe(Mitrushi, 1972: 123) etc.]When the child was making the first steps, he / she was cautiouslyguarded in order to avoid him or her falling down and getting scared ofwalking or standing. The way to avoid such fear was as follows: threepieces of straw were put at the entry of the house while two persons werestaying in and out of the house, at both sides of the door. One of them washolding an axe or scissors and cut the pieces of straw. Such ritual wasrepeated three times.When the child reaches the age of one, he / she is put in front severalitems such a bag of banknotes, books, scissors, pencils or pens, etc, eachrepresenting a certain profession or category of professions. Based onwhat the child have chose or touched first it was believed to determine theprofession that the child will have in the future. (Nushi, 1974: 296).When the child stands up for the first time, on the place where he / shestood should be thrown above water according to the belief that he / shewill be able to move without stopping like the water that is in perpetualmovement. If the child starts walking late, his feet will be touched withliquids left on the dishes used for baking the bread. This was done in timeswhen it was full moon and it was believed that the child would walk soon. Itwas forbidden for the child to eat the heart of an animal or a bird accordingto the custom that he / she will become scary and slow.In catholic families, a child at the age of 7 should definitively bebaptized at the church. In Muslim families, the male child had to undergocircumcision. This was an influence of the Islamic religion that wasaccepted by the Albanian population after the arrival of the Turks in theBalkans. As all the other religious rituals, this one was also forbiddenduring communism. Nowadays, circumcision has returned to be a ceremonyorganized by the family of the child and sometimes it takes the festivity ofa wedding day.Another religious ceremony was also the celebration of the “day of thename”, mostly in cases when a boy was born.* * *As a conclusion, we might say that all these rituals and superstitions wetried to briefly resume are known in all the regions of Albania. Such ritualsand traditions are still heard in the behavior of our parents and grandparentsand new rituals adopted in modern times may only enrich and improvesuch special and unrepeatable joy in the life of a person.