The concept of toas, which has no direct English translation, has been described in other studies (Douglas,1994; Eisenbruch, 1994;Rice,1994). Toas appears to refer to specific acute illnesses or morbidities experienced during postpartum triggered by wrong conduct. Women identified five major types of toas during interviews, and each type was designated by the trigger that produced symptoms-eating certain foods that are dangerous, returning to normal activities too soon, resuming coitus too soon, experiencing strong emotions, or walking in the rain or dew. All women interviewed knew about toas from food and from resuming work too soon after birth. The other types commonly were reported but not by all women