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Indonesian Cultures

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The Huaulu have strict ideas about menstruation huts. The huts are made from sago wood and sago leaf thatch. Only women can build these huts because men are not allowed near them under death penalty. The huts are built facing away from the village and there are no windows facing the village either. The huts are used for menstruation, all births, and some females and young children are allowed as well. The women often share a hut so there are usually several people in one hut at a time. Men are never welcome, but younger boys below the age of puberty are allowed, and they cannot even look in the windows[1].

The women must stay outside the village during menstruation, but they are free to wander the forest and surrounding areas. They cannot meet or help their husbands in any way, but they may gather their own food and amuse themselves as they please with music and stories in the hut[1].

During menstruation, the women are considered unclean and impure so they cannot interact with the men or be in the village[1]. They see themselves as the saviors of men because they are able to handle their menstruation and keep the men safe and clean[2]. The menstruating women are required to bathe in a special fountain where men were not allowed[1].

The Kodi keep their menstruation a secret by hiding it and not telling anyone so that they can use it as a source of female manipulation and witchcraft or natural medicine[2]. The women are allowed to take care of all their duties during menstruation. Other women are the caretakers of those in menstruation, and they have many symbolisms, taboos, and beliefs around it involving dyes, tattoos, and rituals[1].

Others continued

The Yapese women have a lot of taboo and secrets around menstruation. They use the menstrual huts to hide themselves so that they do not embarrass themselves in front of the men. Menstrual huts were also used for childbirth and after childbirth care. The older women teach the younger women and girls skills and practices about health, especially menstruation and childbirth, as well as the other tasks which the Yapese women are required to do[3].

The Yurok women were required to stay in a menstruation hut a short ways away from the village. There is a lot of taboo and power associated with menstruation in this culture. Those menstruating must remain in the hut and abide by certain rules or there will be consequences for her, the other women, and even the village because she holds so much power. The women are thought by many to be unclean, and anything they use is made unclean as well, but the women believe themselves to be very powerful in this time and they should not waste time on trivial tasks during menstruation[4].

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Hoskins, Janet (2002). "The Menstrual Hut and the Witch's Lair in Two Eastern Indonesian Societies". Ethnology. 41 (4): 317–333. doi:10.2307/4153011. ISSN 0014-1828.
  2. ^ a b Gottlieb, Alma (2002). "Afterword". Ethnology. 41 (4): 381–390. ISSN 0014-1828.
  3. ^ Acord, Suzanne (2009). "Yap's Education System Combines the Old with the New". Pacific-Asian Education Journal. 21 (2): 5–15.
  4. ^ Kitchel, Sydni (2019). "Medicinal Herbs and Landscape Archaeology: Menstrual Customs Among the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok During the Emergent Period". Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology. 33: 1–8.