Abstract
THE Arapesh are a people of an area of northwestern New Guinea lying at and about 143° 30′ E., and 3° 30′ S. They have a custom of segregating women in outshelters at all times of the catamenia. Like most other women in this respect, Arapesh women do not ovulate or menstruate for an interval after parturition and during nursing. This organic quiescent period is usually known as the lactogenic interval. The Arapesh have the unusual custom that a woman and her husband must notice the advent of the first post-partum onset of menstruation in her body by giving a feast to the neighbours. The first post-partum onset of menstruation in a woman's body during lactation is termed in the Arapesh tongue helib. The feast given by a woman and her husband to the neighbours a few days after helib is termed in Arapesh Kwa di batauin. It takes place, on Arapesh evidence, between six to twenty-five months after child-births, as noted by the nursling having first cut its first two incisors (6–9 months) in some cases, and having first cut all its milk teeth (24 months) in other cases, with a modal time about the intermediate age of the nursling walking and talking.
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FORTUNE, R. Arapesh Maternity. Nature 152, 164 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152164a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152164a0
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