Young mother anointed with coconut oil and turmeric at first childbirth ritual in Palau

On the final day of her ngasech, the traditional first childbirth ceremony, a young mother in Palau, Micronesia, is dressed up and anointed with cocnut oil and turmeric by a medicine woman. Practically every Palauan woman goes through the ngasech ceremony, begun one to three months after she has given birth to her first child. The ceremony consists of hot baths, taken twice daily for five to ten days, depending on the clan of the new mother, and then a sweat bath on the day of her coming out ceremony when she is dressed up and shown to the family of the father of her child. The purpose of the baths is to heal her skin, remove stretch marks and blemishes, and also to clean the inside of her private parts.

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Copyright: Copyright © 2005 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5507x3661 / 23.2MB; Austronesian Helping Horizontal Life Cycle Ritual Micronesia Micronesian Oceania Pacific islands Rite of Passage South Pacific Women adornment anointing bare-breasted bracelet breasts ceremony childbirth coconut oil first child birth flowers indoors medicine woman mother ngasech pregnancy rite ritual shining tumeric turmeric two persons woman young
Contained in galleries: Childbirth ceremony, Palau

On the final day of her ngasech, the traditional first childbirth ceremony, a young mother in Palau, Micronesia, is dressed up and anointed with cocnut oil and turmeric by a medicine woman. Practically every Palauan woman goes through the ngasech ceremony, begun one to three months after she has given birth to her first child. The ceremony consists of hot baths, taken twice daily for five to ten days, depending on the clan of the new mother, and then a sweat bath on the day of her coming out ceremony when she is dressed up and shown to the family of the father of her child. The purpose of the baths is to heal her skin, remove stretch marks and blemishes, and also to clean the inside of her private parts.