Bidan was the Atjèhnese traditional midwife (vroedvrouw) who assisted in childbirth, performed magical and manual procedures, conducted hair-shaving of the newborn, performed circumcision on girls, and provided postpartum care. She received payment (peunajah, seunalén) after the 44-day period.
Functions
The bidan’s functions included:
- Childbirth assistance — managing the delivery, using techniques such as ië seuloesoh (“opening water” with magical formula), Roempöt Patimah (Rose of Jericho), and various physical manipulations
- Newborn care — performing the hair-shaving of the newborn
- Female circumcision (peusoenat for girls) — performed around age 2, kept very secret, using pincet (seupét), sonde (tjeunoelö), and a knife
- Postpartum care — supervising the madeuëng / meusalè / peudoeë’ (postpartum roasting) for 44 days
- Magical procedures — performing peutrön boeröng (exorcism of the childbirth ghost), meulingkeuë (stepping over the laboring woman), and mböïh (blowing through the fist)
The ië seuloesoh
The ië seuloesoh (“opening water”) was given to a woman in difficult labor, prepared by the bidan who recited a magical formula (doe’a seuloesoh) over a bowl of water — meant to open everything closed and remove all obstacles. Sometimes prepared by putting a key in the water. The Roempöt Patimah (“Rose of Jericho,” Anastatica hierochuntica) was soaked briefly in water and given to the birthing woman to drink.
The husband’s role
In difficult childbirth attributed to toelah / teumeurka — a state of being “struck by misfortune” believed caused by faults the woman committed against her husband — confession to the husband was one remedy. The ië srah gaki laköë (“foot-wash water of the husband”) was given to the laboring woman to drink as humiliation before him — “the heaven of the wife is under the soles of her husband’s feet.”
Payment
The bidan received payment (peunajah, seunalén) after the 44-day postpartum period. She was a central figure in the reproductive life of Atjèhnese women, combining practical midwifery with magical and religious elements.
See Also
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Traditional midwife who assists at the birth.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 136.
Source
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923.
Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798; PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 136.