Ritual eye washing for newborns
Author(s)
Title
Ritual eye washing for newborns
Alternative Title
Ritual Fase bebe nia matan
Publication Type
Language
tet
Number of Pages
1
Location
Timor-Leste
Keywords
Ritual fase matan ba bebe foin moris
Relevance to ICH Safeguarding
ICH Genre
Description
Ritual ba bebe foin moris/ritual fase matan ba bebe foin moris (Ritual eye washing for newborns), It’s an ancient custom practiced by the Timorese people. The ritual is believed to help remove the impurities that may be present in the newborn's eyes after birth. It’s a sign of opening the newborn's eye to see the reality of the world and preparing him/her for it. For the ISNI ethnolinguistic people, the ritual eye washing for newborns is an important moment for strengthening the familial ties between the feto-sa and umane (families of the groom and the bride). If the newborn is a girl, her aunt, the sister of her father, will come with a ring. They will keep the ring in the water and take it to clean the baby's eye symbolically. Then, the ring will be left for the newborn's parents to keep it. When the baby is grown, the aunt will come back with the owner of the ring (the aunt's son) to ask her for marriage. Commonly, when people (from the family of the bride or groom) come to visit the newborn baby, they will first ask these questions. Is the newborn a man of the house or a pilgrim? If the newborn is a boy, their parents will answer that a man is the house
if the newborn is a girl, they will answer it’s a pilgrim. If the newborn is a boy, his father's siblings will come with a machete and keep it in the water and symbolically use the machete to clean the baby's eyes. It means that his baby will take responsibility for his family's needs when he is grown.
Book/Journal Title
Publisher
Timor-Leste National Comission for UNESCO
Place of Publication
Timor-Leste
Date of Publication
2024
Pages
36
Academic Field
Cultural study (Oral tradition)
Community/Ethnic Group
Community of Manufahi Municipality
Faoholau-Orana
Contributor
Active Contribution
Timor-Leste, FY 2024