~ Young girls play with the wooden dolls, which they call 'child' (biiga), and carry thenm tucked in the waistband of their skirts, just as their motehrs carry real babies.  The girls show their dolls to adult women who say, "May God give you many children."  The wooden dolls are cared for as if they were real children.  If a young girl mistreats it, later her own child will become ill or die.  When searching for firewood in the bush, the girls bring back wildflowers for their dolls, and when they go to the market they carry the dolls in their skirts, showing them to vendors who give them small gifts.  Those who are not able to go to the market position themselves along the path to await the vendors' return, placing their dolls on the ground before them to receive presents.

Wooden dools are purchsed by mothers for their daughters, who cover them with leather and decorate them with cowries and beads.  Before marriage, a woamn coyly carries the doll to market on her back.  A few days after being married, she is given a bit of straw in place of her doll and is asked if her first child will be a boy or girl.  The doll is given a name and will permit the newly married couple to conceive a child quickly.