Ritualization in the human infant-mother bond

Abstract

My purpose is to point up the significance of some of the very earliest forms of ritual behaviour manifested in human ontogeny. These occur within the context of the early mother-infant relationship and, because in fact any aspect of the interactions between mother and infant may become ritualized, I must first distinguish between two broad kinds of ritual behaviour in this context. Both may be said to be patterns of behaviour which occur with great regularity and little deviation in specific kinds of situation. The first kind are essentially culturally prescribed and consist of maternal care-taking practices that show a rigidity and conformity in both form and repetitiveness that may far exceed the requirements for mutual personal adjustment between the infant and his mother. These ritualized practices, in both primitive and modern societies, are all methods of coping with the young infant’s helplessness, fragility and susceptibility to illness, and their prime function has to do with promoting the infant’s immediate survival. Among primitive societies, for example, one of the commonest sources of ritual practice by mothers is ‘evil-eye’ (e.g. Romney & Romney 1963). This arises from the infant being stared at by witches or by other women who may be jealous of the infant. Its symptoms may be vomiting or fever, and death may ensue. Various protective practices are adopted by mothers in different societies: for example, putting a black dot on the baby’s temple or foot, putting scissors or crossed sticks at the head or foot of the crib to cut any evil powers, or putting a string of nuts around the baby’s waist to ward off any evil. In our own society, one of the most widespread care-taking rituals is scheduled feeding according to the clock, which is still often maintained with the strictest regularity and rigidity