For a month succeeding the birth, the mother must follow a very strict set of rules.  Each day she is bathed with water in which certain herbs and leaves, distasteful to evil spirits, are boiled. [64] Beginning with the second day and until the tenth she must add one bath each day, at least one of which is in cold water.  From the tenth to the twenty-fourth day she takes one hot and one cold bath, and from then to the end of the month she continues the one hot bath.  Until these are completed, the family must keep a strip of ayabong bark burning beneath the house, in order to protect the baby from evil spirits.  As an additional defence, a miniature bow and arrow, and a bamboo shield, with a leaf attached, as hung above the infant’s head (Fig. 4, No. 1).

On the fifth day the mother makes a ring out of old cloth, rice stalks, and a vine, and puts it on her head; over her shoulders is an old blanket, while in one hand she holds a reed staff, which “helps her in her weakness, and protects her from evil beings.”  She carries a coconut shell filled with ashes, a basket and a jar, and thus equipped she goes to the village spring.  Arriving there, she cleans the dishes “as a sign that her weakness has passed, and that she can now care for herself;” then she sets fire to a piece of bark, and leaves it burning beside the water, as a further sign of her recovery.  When she returns to the dwelling, the cleansed dishes and the staff are placed above the spot, where she and the baby sleep.

On the 29th day the fire is extinguished, and the bamboo frame is fastened under the floor of the house, below the mother’s mat, “so that all can see that the family has followed the custom.”  As the frame is carried out, the mother calls to the anito mother (cf. p. 261) to throw out her fire.

In the mountain districts about Lakub, a ceremony in which the spirits are besought to look to the child’s welfare is held about the third day after the birth.  The mediums summon several spirits; a chicken or a pig is killed, and its blood mixed with rice is offered up.  At the conclusion a small saloko [65] containing an egg is attached to one end of the roof.  In Ba-ak this is generally a three to six day event attended by all the friends and relatives of the family.  Here, in place of the egg, a jar containing pine-sticks is attached to the roof, for the pine which burns brightly makes it plain to the spirits what the people are doing.

In the light of the extended and rather complex procedure just related, it is interesting to note that the Tinguian woman is one of those mythical beings whom careless or uninformed writers have been wont to describe as giving birth to her children without bodily discomfort. Reyes [66] tells us that she cuts the umbilical cord, after which she proceeds to the nearest brook, and washes the clothing soiled during the birth. Lerena likewise credits her with delivering herself without aid, at whatever spot she may then chance to be; then, without further ado or inconvenience, she continues her duties as before.  If she happens to be near to a river, she bathes the child; or, if water is not handy, she cleans it with grass or leaves, and then gives it such a name as stone, rooster, or carabao. [67]