Basque ethnography at a glance

Suckling wild pig. Pisco de Gaiso. www.piscodelgaiso.com.

The convenience of whether infants should be fed on maternal breast milk remains an issue for discussion nowadays. Experts seem to strongly recommend that mothers feed their children human milk because of the nutritional as well as immunological benefits it offers. In past times breast milk was in fact the only source of nutrition for babies during their first moments of life.

Some women had difficulty breastfeeding, and there were different approaches to remediation. If the natural mother was temporarily unable to produce sufficient milk, she might turn for assistance to a nursing woman from the neighbourhood until let-down occurred. Supplementing with diluted cow, goat or donkey’s milk was another option.

Roman charity. Antonio Solá, 1851. Museo del Prado.

It is known that animals were occasionally used to boost the production of milk. Stimulation by suckling with a young pup helped trigger a surge in milk supply. Likewise, there were women, and objectionable as it might seem, also men, who dedicated themselves to drawing out flat or inverted nipples for newborns to latch on effectively. On the contrary, lactating women with a forceful milk ejection often suffered from engorged breasts. In order to relieve their discomfort, similar strategies were not uncommon. New mothers might request the services of an elderly, preferably toothless, man or woman to have their breasts sucked and any excess milk removed. In certain villages such a task was undertaken by acknowledged ‘suckers’.

According to the distinguished linguist and folklorist R.M de Azkue, in the early decades of the 20^th century the use of parsley to suppress breast milk was widespread amongst post-partum women facing infant loss. There were those who recommended parsley root tea; others suggested to keep a bit of parsley under the soles and drink infusions prepared from cane root; and some claimed scattering parsley over the breasts and tightly binding them with a towel or a piece of cloth as the best remedy. Application of warm cabbage leaves on the back was customary in the Arratia Valley (Bizkaia), whereas thorough cleansing would be the preferred choice in Barkoxe (Zuberoa).

Segundo Oar-Arteta – Etniker Bizkaia – Etniker Euskalerria Groups

Translated by Jaione Bilbao – Language Department – Labayru Fundazioa

References for further information: Rites from Birth to Marriage, part of the Ethnographic Atlas of the Basque Country collection; J.M. Satrustegi. Euskaldunen seksu bideak. Oñati, 1975.