TRADITIONAL MIDWIFERY IN COLONIAL MAURITIUS
Authors :Pavitranand Ramhota
Abstract
This article presents the symbolism and the ritual practices which, during the time of Indian immigration, once surrounded the birth of a child. These rites were aimed at the immediate integration of the child into the group of parents, maternal and paternal. These cults once celebrated at the place of birth, at the parents' home in the sugar company camp where they resided, are less and less common today or simply do not disappear. The ritual of purification of the bath of the mother and the child continues because it is decisive in that it assigns to the child his particular position in society (with a name and caste). In the first part of the article, it is a question of birth rites as they were practiced at the time of life in the sugar camps. Then it is a question of examining what remains determinant today in the practical rituals to analyse in conclusion their mutation, even disappeared in contemporary Mauritius.
Key words: Birth, rites, Mauritius, history, anthropology
