English translation
5337. Humaid said: I said to Zainab, "What does throwing a globe of dung when one year had elapsed mean?" Zainab said, "When a lady was bereaved of her husband, she would live in a wretched small room and put on the worst clothes she had and would not touch any scent till one year had elapsed. Then she would bring an animal, e.g. a donkey, a sheep or a bird and rub her skin (body) against it. The animal against which she would rub her skin (body) would scarcely survive. Only then she would come out of her room, whereupon she would be given a globe of dung which she would throw away and then she would use whatsoever the scent she liked or the other."