Betawi people has the Nuju Bulanan (seventh month of pregnancy) ceremony. The ceremony is intended to wish for ease and comfort during the pregnancy period. To seek and be grateful to God and announce that a new family member is coming, and to wish that the newborn will be born safely.
There are things to Do and Not To Do during pregnancy. Women in pregnancy should always praise God the Almighty, recite and read the shalawat and read the Quran, especially the Yusuf letter. The Dont’s include not to kill animals, insult other people’ physical beings or bad mouthing others. They are also forbidden to eat chicken that is infected with pestilence (telo), fish that swim sideways, pork, ambonese banana, pineapple, jackfruit and intestines of livestock. If those abstinence are trespassed, whether consciously or unconsciously, it is believed there will be bad consequences for the newborn, such as it could be physically deformed or disabled. The restrictions of not to eat chicken, fish or pork for pregnant women are meant to avoid the new child from epilepsy since it is believed there have been many cases reported relating to this.
The seventh month is considered as the next stage of pregnancy period. The dates which is picked to be a ceremony is typically the 7th, 17th, or 27th of the month of the Hijriah. Betawi people usually choose the 7th or 17th, because the 27th is considered to have entered the eighth month. The ceremony is carried out in three stages, namely the selametan/tahlilan (communal feast conducted to express gratefulness) by reading the letter of Yusuf inside the house, flower bathing, and Ngirag (checking the baby’s position inside the mother’s womb by the shaman to ensure that the baby is in the correct position. In other areas, Ngirag is also called Gedog. The sequence of the ceremony can be done the other way around, which to start from Ngirag.