kraamroostering (English: “post-partum roasting”) is a term or concept described in Jongejan’s Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu in relation to Aceh. Practice of lying the new mother on a rustbank with the oven stoked beneath/next to her for 1–2 weeks to dry her out and return her body to its former state.
Translation
post-partum roasting
Description
Practice of lying the new mother on a rustbank with the oven stoked beneath/next to her for 1–2 weeks to dry her out and return her body to its former state. Sometimes sulfur, old rags, horn pieces, onions and other foul-smelling things are thrown on the fire to keep spirits/kraamduivelin away. The mother is also seated on warm ash covered with cloths as a variant. Done with considerable suffering.
Significance
The term kraamroostering is recorded by Jongejan as part of the cultural, administrative, or institutional vocabulary of Aceh.
See Also
Source
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. 137.