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Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul
Chapter Two: The culture of the Maya Ixil
7. Childbirth at home
When the woman who is going to give birth starts to feel pains, her mother and grandmother begin the preparations. The mother puts a straw mat near the fire and puts water on to heat up. The woman gets on her knees over the straw mat to give birth in the squatting position. All the women wait for the baby to be born, which will be caught by the grandmother. If the placenta doesn’t come out easily, they throw a chile on the fire so that the woman sneezes and the placenta comes out.
The woman’s mother fixes the umbilical cord, tying the ends with a sewing thread and then burning it with a candle. After three days, the umbilical cord falls off by itself. The grandmother and the woman’s aunt take the clothing she used during childbirth to wash in the river.
The woman receives her atol in a calabash cup to warm her stomach. The women who had gone to the river to wash the clothes and bedclothes from the birthing process return and drink their coffee with chile since they went to the river at dawn. The woman’s aunt notifies the other sisters that their sister has given birth. Another sister brings her a specially woven corte.
The sisters help by washing more clothes in the river. The mother and the mother-in-law take care of the woman and wait for visitors to serve them coffee. The older sisters bring Ixil tamales for the woman’s meal and another sister washes her hair with soap. Later all the women eat Ixil tamales with a lot of chile. They prepare a special sauce with chile and cooked, ground corn for the woman because it helps to warm the womb and the entire body so that her stomach won’t hurt her.
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