Women: During Labor a midwife is called to help the mother deliver the baby. Right after birththe midwife, who is usually and older woman, cuts the umbilical cord. She shows the new mother how to care and bathe the newborn. The new mom needs to drink a highly spiced gruel( Kunun kanwa) that has potlash. She eats roasted meat that is baked in charcoal and spiced with pepper. She will take a hot bath,mornings and evenings, for 40 days. the bath contains special herbs, leaves and branches.
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| Men: "There is a cultural ideal of masculine superiority in which the maigida (household head) is the complete master of his home. Reinforcing this ideal is the cultural emphasis on wife-seclusion. Any type of seclusion, even the milder forms practiced among most Muslim Hausa, conflict with pre-Islamic custom and practice. Therefore, Barkow (1971, p. 60) argues that Hausa Muslim women frequently turn to courtesanship to escape the confines of married life, seeking to return to the more carefree period of their adolescence." |
