"Even when the well-loved Kartini died of a haemorrhage after the birth of her child in 1904, her death constituted an everyday tragedy. It might even have been better not to mention it, because in many parts of Indonesia it is believed that women who die in childbirth reappear as evil spirits, or pontianak [well-known as Kuntilanak -ed], to take revenge on the living."
Source: Pontianak (1919) 'Pontianak' in 's-Gravenhage and M. Nijhoff Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indie III page 450-1 cited in Blackburn (2004) Women and the State in Modern Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page: 145.
No comments:
Post a Comment