Hindu Kush the period is extended to forty days.[26]

This attitude which primitive man takes toward woman at the time of her
sexual crises--menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth--are but an
intensification of the feeling which he has toward her at all times.
Conflicting with his natural erotic inclinations are the emotions of awe
and fear which she inspires in him as the potential source of contagion,
for there is always some doubt as to her freedom from bad magic, and it
is much safer to regard her as unclean.[27] Thus the every-day life of
savage tribes is hedged in by all manner of restrictions concerning the
females of their group. The men have their own dwelling in many
instances, where no woman may enter. So, too, she may be barred out from
the temples and excluded from the religious ceremonies when men worship
their deity. There are people who will not permit the women of their
nation to touch the weapons, clothing, or any other possessions of the
men, or to cook their food, lest even this indirect contact result in
emasculation. The same idea of sympathetic magic is at the root of
taboos which forbid the wife to speak her husband's name, or even to use
the same dialect. With social intercourse debarred, and often no common
table even in family life, it is veritably true that men and women
belong to two castes.

Of the primitive institution known as the "men's house," Hutton Webster
says: "Sexual separation is further secured and perpetuated by the
institution known as the men's house, of which examples are to be found
among primitive peoples throughout the world. It is usually the largest
building in a tribal settlement ... Here the most precious belongings of
the community, such as trophies and religious emblems, are preserved.
Within its precincts ... women and children ... seldom or never
enter ... Family huts serve as little more than resorts for the