Ama

Not only does the baby have a jewel then, or some handsome gift, but his ama (nurse) is remembered with a bright gold doubloon (sixteen dollars).

Again as with Juan, shortly after the religious rite the children would be transferred to the care of wet nurses, or amas, who would take them into their individual homes.

It was rumoured that she had been his ama, the wet nurse who then became part of the family, taking charge so effectively that she ruled the household.

"Perhaps," her grandmother had said. She was nearing death at that point, Mia's ama. Her body was wracked with arthritis, rheumatism, Parkinson's, osteoporosis and more. The maids said she was crazy with pain, and perhaps too far gone to even think properly.

There would always be some food offerrings there, and every morning, Amma would burn some incense. More elaborate offerings were made on the anniversaries of his birth and death, and the Chinese festivals for the dead such as Qingming in April and the Hungry Ghosts on the seventh lunar month.