T h e L y in g - in P e rio d , Y u-f a i
Lying by the fire after childbirth is a very strong tradition in this village.
Here virtually all mothers, both the older and the very young, continue
to observe a very traditional yu-fai by an open fire.1 his is longest
for the first child, and lasts an uneven number of days. The only
change is that the young generation has a shorter fire rest than their
mothers did. The young consider 13-15 days sufficient for the first
child, and /—9 days long enough for the youngest. The older group
in 1968 found that 21—25 days were necessary for the first child, and
never less than 11 days.
Yu-jai is not observed only in a village setting, sixteen women
teachers in village schools, aged 25—47, twelve born in towns in the
northeast, and four in villages, had all observed yu-fai for their total
of forty-eight children. Most of these were not by an open fire as is
done in the village, though; they used the more modern charcoal basin.
Yu-fat is regarded as a treatment and a cleansing, and everyone,
humble village mothers as well as well-educated middle-class teachers,
regard it as an important and necessary part of regaining health and
strength after childbirth.
1 here are a great many authors who mention that yu-fat is almost
obsolete all over Thailand, and most authors describe the lying by the
fire as a bad and harmful custom. “ Mother-roasting ” is the expression
used by some western authors, as well as other terms with negative