The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

Chapter I. Dionysus. 13been observed, apparently for similar reasons, by other peoplesin other lands. For example, in Java it is or used to be customaryto place every child at birth in a bamboo basket like the sieveor winnowing-basket which Javanese farmers use for separatingthe rice from the chaff. 27 It is the midwife who places the childin the basket, and as she does so she suddenly knocks with thepalms of both hands on the basket in order that the child may notbe timid and fearful. Then she addresses the child thus: “Cry not,for Njaï-among and Kaki-among” (two spirits) “are watchingover you.” Next she addresses these two spirits, saying, “Bringnot your grandchild to the road, lest he be trampled by a horse;bring him not to the bank of the river, lest he fall into the river.”The object of the ceremony is said to be that these two spiritsshould always and everywhere guard the child. 28 On the firstanniversary of a child's birthday the Chinese of Foo-Chow setthe little one in a large bamboo sieve, such as farmers employin winnowing grain, and in the sieve they place along with thechild a variety of articles, such as fruits, gold or silver ornaments,a set of money-scales, books, a pencil, pen, ink, paper, and soon, and they draw omens of the child's future career from theobject which it first handles and plays with. Thus, if the infantfirst grasps the money-scale, he will be wealthy; if he seizes on abook, he will be learned, and so forth. 29 In the Bilaspore district [007]of India it is customary for well-to-do people to place a newborninfant in a winnowing-fan filled with rice and afterwards toSchneider, Leipsic, 1870-1873, vol. i. p. 109).27 T. S. Raffles, History of Java (London, 1817), i. 323; C. F. Winter,“Instellingen, Gewoontenen Gebruiken der Javanen te Soerakarta,” Tijdschriftvoor Neêrlands Indie, Vijfde Jaargang, Eerste Deel (1843), p. 695; P. J. Veth,Java (Haarlem, 1875-1884), i. 639.28 C. Poensen, “Iets over de kleeding der Javanen,” Mededeelingen van wegehet Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, xx. (1876) pp. 279 sq.29 Rev. J. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, edited and revised by the Rev.Paxton Hood (London, 1868), pp. 90 sq.