The peuchichab (also written penchichab, literally “to give to taste”) was the Achehnese ceremony held on the seventh day after a child’s birth, at which the infant was given its first ritual taste of food. The ceremony was generally accompanied by the first shaving of the child’s head, and was marked by a great kanduri or religious feast given in the presence of the teungku of the gampong and a number of leubè’s. Like other ceremonies of its kind, it might be postponed for a day or two, but it was officially understood to take place on the seventh day.
The presence of the teungku and leubè’s
The presence of the teungku of the gampong and some leubè’s was indispensable at the great kanduri or religious feast given on this occasion—not only for the sake of the prayers with which the feast had to be consecrated, but also because it was generally thought essential to the sanctity of a feast that it should be partaken of by some indigent persons distinguished from the mass by their knowledge and practice of religion. Where the peuchichab feast was celebrated on a fairly large scale, the male and female relations of both father and mother were invited, and generally also a number of people from the gampongs of both. The guests arrived at about eight o’clock in the morning, and were welcomed without prolix ceremonies. Some of the relatives brought a money present (say a dollar each) for the child; the father’s mother gave new mats, pillows, clothes, and a little swinging bed which served as a cradle (ayon) and was supported by a rope covered with cloth. The male guests gave biaya peukan (“things bought in the market”), such as tobacco, fruits, sirih, and fish.
The ritual tasting
Food was served to the assembled guests, but not in so formal a manner as at the peujamè. An idang of glutinous rice with its accessories and some fruits were set aside for the midwife. After the feast all the guests departed except the immediate relatives and the teungku and his attendants. The bidan (midwife), after shaving the child’s head, laid it in all its finery on a small mattress (kasòë) covered with a number of costly cloths, and then brought it in and handed it over in the first place to the teungku. At the same time she set before the latter a tray containing a bowl of dates, another of cocoanut milk, and the savoury paste known as keulémbè in the midst of which a chempaka flower stood erect. The teungku took a small piece of date, mixed it with the santan (cocoanut milk), and rubbed it on the child’s lips after invoking the name of Allah. Both the teungku and, after him, the relatives of the infant also “gave him to taste” a sort of pap (Achehnese cheunichah; Malay and Javanese bujal) made of a compost of raw fruits pounded very fine. It was from this compulsory introduction to human customs as to food that the whole ceremony took its name of peuchichab.
The associated hakikah
The Mohammedan law recommended an offering of two sheep or goats for a male child and one for a female child, by preference on the seventh day after birth, but if this were impossible then at some later date even when the child was quite grown up. This sacrifice was called ‘aqīqah, and was not only known but actually practised in Acheh under the name of hakikah. In Acheh, no less than in other parts of the East Indian Archipelago, the people of Mekka had done their best to foster the doctrine that it was an extremely meritorious act to offer this sacrifice for the child in the holy city. The Mekka folk thus reaped the profits on the sale of the goats, and at the same time enjoyed their share of the meat. Many Achehnese were, however, aware that the hakikah was more properly offered at home, and the choice of some later occasion for the sacrifice (rather than the seventh day after birth) was also common in Acheh.
See Also
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.