The boih dapu — literally “removal of the oven” — is the Achehnese ceremony by which the 44-day post-childbirth “oven” period of the mother is brought to a close. As Snouck Hurgronje describes it, “after the 44 momentous days have passed, there takes place what is known as the ‘removal of the oven’ (boih dapu); this however as a rule really occurs on the 41st or 43rd day, as a day of even number is considered less lucky.” The ceremony combines the formal end of the mother’s confinement, the ritual purification of the house, and the festive kanduri by which the event is marked.
The 44-day confinement
During the 44 days preceding the boih dapu, the mother lies close to the dapu — the hearth or oven — by which she is dried and restored. She is then called ureueng didapu, “one that lies close to the hearth”. The woman suffers dreadfully under this process, and tosses hither and thither to save her skin from being scorched. She is not allowed to quench her thirst with water, but must be content with a little, and that not too often. The Mohammedan law sets down the average period of purification after childbirth at 40 days, and this is the time observed in Java. “As we have seen however the period of forty days customarily observed in other countries is often replaced by forty-four, which latter number plays a prominent part in Achehnese superstition.”
The kanduri and the funeral prayer
The boih dapu is inaugurated by a kanduri given to a number of teungkus and leubes, “at which feast there must be plenty of apam or cakes in addition to the rice and its accessories”. One of the guests consecrates the fast by the funeral prayer, in which the mercy of Allah is invoked “for all the dead and for the living as well”. A number of women are invited to attend the ceremony, “but these take no share in the kanduri”. Those whose means allow of it give at the same time a Rapa’i, the religious play so popular among the Achehnese. The ceremonial is thus both festive and mortuary in character: the close of the period of purification is marked by a feast, and the feast is consecrated by a prayer that includes, with the living mother and child, the dead of the family and the community.
The removal of the dapu and the bath
The midwife removes the dapu or oven and pushes it beneath the house, where the platform on which the mother has rested during her confinement is also deposited. “The woman is then given a bath, which is called the ‘bath of 44’ (i.e. 44 days). If we may believe the old legends, women of rank in earlier times had this bath served from 44 jars. The water for the bath is mixed with the juice of sour oranges (boh kru’èt).” In ordinary cases the midwife can then take her departure. She must first, however, “cool” (peusijue) the house. For this purpose she employs the means with which we have already become familiar — i.e. flour and water which is sprinkled on the places to be “cooled” with an improvised besom formed of twigs or whole plants of sisijue and aneueng manè and stalks of naleung sambo. With this, after solemnly invoking Allah’s name, she besprinkles all the 16 or 24 posts which support the Achehnese house, beginning with those called raja and putrò’e, to which superstition assigns a special importance.
The midwife’s departure
At her departure the midwife receives, in addition to the sum estimated by her as the equivalent of the various drugs etc. which she has prepared for the mother and infant, “a douceur in money for her trouble (peunayang) and a complete outfit of garments (seunalen)”. In Java it is customary for the woman or her husband to ask forgiveness of the midwife for all the trouble they have put her to, “but in Acheh this lakee meuineh, as it is called, is made by the woman’s mother”. With the departure of the midwife the boih dapu is complete, and the mother is restored, in ceremonial terms, to the ordinary life of the household. The next great epoch in the life of the child — the peutron (the first descent to the ground) — is then in its turn prepared for by a new series of ceremonies.
See Also
- Bath of 44
- Peutron
- Peusijue
- Kanduri
- Apam
- Rapa’i
- 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 40th, 44th, 50th, 100th, 1000th day ceremonies
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.