Birth, salvation

According to one interpretation, “God is saying that he has given Jeremiah many gifts, and he doesn’t need to be afraid. God knows Jeremiah; he was born for the role that is being prescribed for him.” As Sister Hudlin described Catholic practices surrounding the birth of a child, she echoed the beliefs common to other religious traditions in TT. For instance, Hindus speak of the child coming to Earth with a sense of destiny, Muslims place emphasis on the “purpose that the child must serve” in his or her community, while practitioners of Ifa/Orisa believe children choose their parents, in line with what they have come to Earth to achieve.

Ancient cultures believe that the way we come into life is important.

The practice of home births guided by midwives was very much a part of our community practice.

It is slowly disappearing as we increasingly give birth in medical institutions, but Sister Hudlin, a midwife for many years, believes more home births should be encouraged.

“Often, men are very emotional and grateful for being able to witness the birth of their child.” After listening to her and other elders talk about their birth traditions at Renegades panyard, I smiled to see recent reports of a father from Mayo Village who helped deliver his daughter while waiting on the ambulance.

Although he admitted he was scared, he believes more men should witness the birth of their children to get a better idea of what women go through and foster increased mutual respect between the sexes.

In times gone by, the rituals attendant with home births were meticulous and fascinatingly complicated, grounded in a mixture of Christian beliefs and the healing power of herbs.

Eintou Springer describes it this way, “The cord cut, baby is handed over to the elderly female relative to be bathed in warm water and dressed.

The baby is carefully fed tea made from the young leaves of the lime tree … to clean out the baby’s stomach and promote sound sleep.

“The prepared sachet of indigo blue and asafoetida is pinned onto the little vest and baby is placed on the bed on which is an open Bible with a pair of scissors across it. These things combine to give protection against the dreaded mal d’yeux.” There were rituals for the mother, too, involving castor oil, hog plum bush and caraille to clean out her womb and intimate parts.

Interestingly, in the Muslim tradition it is expected that the father would be present at the birth of the child. According to the imam from the mosque on the corner of Prince and Nelson Streets, prayers are whispered in the ears of the child to “write on the mind of the child before anyone else does.” Rituals such as shaving the child’s head and the sacrifice of a goat or sheep are important parts of the Muslim tradition.

This weekend the world will be focused on the powerful legacy of one child whose sense of purpose still resonates, thousands of years after his own humble birth.

My grandmother, who taught us the importance of mothers in raising children to understand their purpose, loved this season.

I close this series with her in mind, and thinking how urgently our nation needs to embrace the practices we have explored. As Psalms 127:3 says, “Children are a blessing from the Lord; the fruit of the womb a reward.” Dara Healy is a performance artist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN.