BIRTH RITES.

In the popular perception of childbirth, the “gate” through which a new person comes from another world to the human world is the mother’s womb, and the wider these “gates” are open, the easier the birth will be. (9 tis'a - childbirth, "to expand"اتسع "itttasa"; gate - see V.N.N.ورود wurud “appearance”, where birth comes from.)
As soon as labor pains began, everything that was closed in the house was opened: doors, windows, locks, chimneys, chests, bottles, locks, drawers were pulled out, etc. The opening operation was related by similarity to other actions: untying, unfastening, unraveling. (FC). “If everything is untied and open, then the birth will be untied sooner...” (Arabic rootحبل X*BL – “rope”, “pregnant”, pregnant = tied); (Russian "pregnant" from "take" V.N.N.; "burden" RB "connection"?).
“The most important obstetric aids were considered to be the removal of the belt, earrings, rings (ختم ХТМ - “seal”, “ring”, it turns out a symbolic unsealing of the uterus, see V.N.N. “Simiya” lesson 48 about the beginning of pregnancy); (حلق Kh*LK "ring, earrings", "surround, block", "throat"), unfastening the collar (ورود VRD "childbirth") of the woman in labor, untying all the knots and unraveling the braids. (Braid - wedding rites of "unbraiding the braid" of the bride, " redemption of the braid by the groom", among the Karelians - ritual preparations for future childbirth "when a girl’s first period appeared, the mother herself combed her hair in the evening with a comb, and braiding the braid, wished her daughter to grow up as a healthy woman, to easily give birth to desired and healthy children, and then inserted the comb into her daughter in the hair").
During contractions, a woman, as a rule, walks freely around the house. If she cannot do this on her own, then she is led by the arms.
During labor, all midwives considered it very important that the woman in labor feel sick and vomit. It was believed that this would open the cervix well. (Russian: RyGat - Give birth; in Arabic.رد RD and رجع RZH – vomiting from “return”). It is interesting that in the popular perception, childbirth is presented as an act of transition from one world to another, “a newborn child is an otherworldly creature, in fact, an ancestor - a progenitor who, when born, receives a new earthly life” = return.
The woman in labor was seated on a low chair, which she had to swing from right to left, helping the baby to take the correct position in the birth canal. (رجح RZh(X*) – “to pump”) (تخلخل thalkhal "to pump" –حل H*L "untie").
A widely used technique is to push while hanging on a rope thrown over a ceiling beam (matitsa).عارضة ЪРД* - “beam, timber, crossbar” fromعرض - "to be wide." Hang ALL -وسع "expand". رجح – RZHH – “to outweigh, pull”.
In extremely severe cases, the suffering woman was hung upside down by her legs. FC* - “up” - (FC - “untie, free”) with legs NG-ZHN + NG “salvation, deliverance.”
- “they smeared the mother’s belly with the blood (KRB) of a white (BD*) rooster (FTH –فتح open; خطف HT*F - “to snatch, take away”, midwife - “to pick up”).

In cases of difficult childbirth, the head of the family went to the priest and asked him to open the Royal Doors, which separated the altar in the church from the rest of the temple. (During the festive service, the open gates of heaven are symbolized. See V.N.N. “paradise”). This tradition has survived to this day - notes from a modern city midwife.
Royal (main - head) gate. رأس – “ras” – head. Gate - at V.N.N.ورود vurud “appearance”, where birth comes from.
Altar:محراب mih*ra:b (root -حرب H*RB).
Mikh*slave –, bi rah*m – in the uterus (?)رحم (РХ*М – “uterus”), brahmi – burden
In some Jewish communities, in particularly difficult cases, the ark containing the Torah scroll (the creation of V.N.N.) was opened.
ark (in Arabicسفينة safi:na, root SFN, in the reverse reading of NFS -نفس - “to be valuable” and “to store”, as well as “to give birth”, “woman in labor”, “soul”.
(midwife -قابلة K*BL; qibla - قبلة ).

Water and childbirth. وضع – VD*Ъ “childbirth”.

Perhaps, based on the films I watched, I formed the following picture: the news of childbirth - commotion in the house and the first thought that arises in everyone and is loudly voiced: “Water!” - “You need to heat the water” - well, how can a child be born if there is no warm water in the house.
"Water-water! Water-queen! Water-grateful!" (from the maternity plot).
At the same time, the midwife sat the woman in labor on the Banny Threshold, facing east, and splashed “hex water” in her face three times...
Water was given special significance in maternity rites. The woman in labor was sprayed, sprinkled, washed, doused, given water - holy, slander, running coal, soap, sweet and ice water.
- doused with ice water from a ladle (fright)
- during weak contractions, they gave very sweet water
(see VNN "sweet: from Arabicسليج sali:zh “tasty, sweet”, literally “sliding in the throat”. Etymologically related to Arabicثلج salzh (salg) “snow”, “ice”).
Arab. rootحلو H*LV "sweet", خلو HLV – “to be released”, “to empty”.
نخلة NHL "palm" (from H*LV "sweet" see V.N.N.)
The Koran (Sura “Maryam”, 19:23-26) says that at the moment of labor pains, the Almighty inspired the righteous Maryam to taste the fruits of dates. Less than 1,400 years have passed and scientists have confirmed the uniqueness of dates as a birth aid. Dates are high in fructose sugar and oxytocin. Oxytocin stimulates the contraction of the muscles of the uterus, and is described in many scientific sources as a means of “quick labor.” “Moreover, it is also surprising that immediately after the birth process, oxytocin begins to act in the mother’s body as a substance that triggers the mechanism of milk production by the mammary glands.” See V.N.N. Datesبلح BLH* - milk حليب H*LB.
- Water was poured into all HOLES: a door bracket, a clamp, a wedding ring or a hole from a fallen knot (no knot - they drilled it specially in a wedding shop).

In the 60s - Water births

Studies have shown that during water birth, the expulsion of the fetus occurs twice as quickly and less painfully, and caesarean section is three times less common than during traditional childbirth.
– among the ancient Egyptians, it was customary for priests to give birth in water, and they also immersed women who were expected to have a difficult birth in water.
- “It’s interesting that in the Russian village there were maternity rituals involving water. If a woman could not give birth, a “domovina” (coffin) was hollowed out of a single piece of wood (VRD), into which water was poured and the woman in labor was invited to sit in it.” .

"The rye stung and gave birth." Everyone has heard about the ease of childbirth among village women during the harvest in the field. There is even a term for "breadbaskets" - children born during the harvest.

From ritual songs:

"We reaped, reaped. Reaped, reaped. Young reapers, golden sickles..."
"LIVE, Wives, reap. We will find God in life."
"REAP, reap what, cut with a sickle." (V. Dal.)
WIFE, WOMAN, reapers, reapers. 6-9.
جنس VNS "gender", "gender"; جنى ZHNY – “reap the benefits”.
Village (VRD) – land (ard* from Russian “to give birth”) – field (FL) – suffering (ST + RaDa) – harvest – zhito – rye – scythe – sickle (moon – womb – gilal).

Time to reap the benefits.

Earth – harvest – harvest = childbirth (earth – “pregnant”, see VNN).
Pushing - Pushing (pushing, pushing period - the end of childbirth).
Reap (reap) – Reap (reap)جمع ZhMЪ “to collect”, “to reap, to remove (harvest)”.
Childbirth in the field "from strain"نتج NTG “give offspring”, “give a harvest”, “result”.
Interestingly, in Arabic the rootبجل NZHL – “to give birth to, give birth to (a son)”, as well asمبجل "sickle, scythe."
Rye –جودار – ZhVDR

PLACE OF BIRTH.

Childbirth more often took place outside the living quarters - in a barn, in a barn, or according to the most common and ancient tradition - in a bathhouse.
“According to the faith of our ancestors, it was impossible to give birth at home, so during the time of childbirth the woman tried to leave the living hut” (عذاب –ЪЗ*Б - flour).
In Ukraine, it is an “old custom” to go to the povet, to the stodola, to the garden (Miloradovich, 1900, p. 16; Kuzelya, 1906, p. 16).

BATH.

The most preferable place for childbirth was considered to be a bathhouse, which, in order to safely deliver the pregnancy, the woman in labor had to heat it herself, independently supplying firewood (VRD-ورود ) and water (ВДъ وضع - "birth"). The woman in labor had to go to the bathhouse barefoot (naked feet NG - “salvation, deliverance” + NG = ZhN (6).

Bathhouse: water (ВДЪ - childbirth), heat (TFL - child) + steam + shelves, curtains (in Ukrainian childbirth = curtains).
"Shelves and floor (فلق FLC * “split”, “open”) were covered with straw (SLM - “safety”, “liberation”, see below).
– For relaxation, softening in order to facilitate and speed up childbirth, the midwife bathed (فق FC "to untie, loosen, free"), soared a woman in labor, in Russian. steam – to soar = to make a couple, in Arabic. FRJ divide", "branch".
(At V.N.N.بخار Buha:p "steam" consonantبخير beheir "good", healthy").

In general, beheir and bilsalam.
حمام – hamam – “bath”, root حمى HMY “to protect”, “to heat”, “to bathe”.
Banya - Arabic root BNY -بنى “build, erect”, “accept”, “son, daughter”.
(بين BYN "to show up, to show up";
“between” - between two worlds (“unclean”) - popular perception of the state of pregnancy, childbirth, the occupation of a midwife, as well as baths.
“If there was no bathhouse - as a separate building in the yard - a place where the woman in labor could hide from unwanted gazes (solitude) could serve as a cleanly cleaned and covered with fresh straw (SLM) barn" (barn, sheepfold).
Stable -خلو HLV - “to retire”, “to free oneself, to empty oneself”.
HLV - BLK - protected place.
Barn, sheepfold - (sheep-rams) an innocent, protected place.
(see VNN "sheep"); Arabic rootحمل X*ML - “pregnant”, “lamb”, “fetus” (see also embryo - the Greek word means “a baby animal, mainly a ram” and comes from Russian ram or from Arabicبريئ bari:’he is “innocent” Simiya, 48 + “to protect”).
Arab. rootبرأ BR_ - “to create”, “to be innocent”, “to get rid of”, “to be freed”.

Regardless of where the birth took place, - “Waiting for the birth of a newborn, the woman in labor was laid out with SHEEP SKIN, laid with FUR on top, or covered with STRAW. Both straw and animal skin were considered a talisman for the mother and baby and made it easier for the child to come out.”
Straw. Arab. root سلم SLM "to be safe, unharmed, saved, delivered, supplied, received."
(Grandmother Solomeya is the patroness of women in labor and an assistant to midwives.)
Sheepskin(see sheepskin);
Furحمى X*MY "protect", "protect", "warm"

"If there was no bathhouse - as a separate building in the yard - they prepared beds (فلت FLT - “free yourself”, “slip out”) on a stove with a curtain..."
They opened the chimney, the woman in labor was “drinking from the coals” - i.e. they gave her water into which the coals that had jumped out of the oven were dipped (...);
In popular understanding, the stove is the mother's womb. The oven produces heat and bread - woman - TFL (طفل "child") and HLB ( حليب "milk"), because the main purpose of a woman is to give birth and feed a child.
The rite of ritual baking of a sick child, who, according to popular beliefs, was “not baked” in the womb, so he was planted three times on a bread (HLB - BLK = protection) shovel (TFL) in a warm (TFL) oven; It is done for ailments, especially for canine old age (tabergue, rickets). Canine senility is a disease of infants whose faces are wrinkled, like those of old people. Canine in the sense of premature old age -سبق SBK – “to be earlier”, “to get ahead”. (more details in the section on the newborn.)
(V.N.N. "oven" fromفخر FHR); clay-children (TFL)...فق FC "untie, free" fkk...
A pregnant woman should not be present during the construction of an adobe stove - it will crack or fall apart during childbirth).

“The children don’t stand (don’t live), having knocked out the jambs of the door, they force the housewife to give birth in SeNi: the grandmother brings the baby ZaDom to the hut and they take him back.”

In the entryway (6) for the purpose of prevention and preservationصيانة - s*iyana + produceصنع S*НЪ + “son” - Russian. from Arabic;
ذأد Z*D "to protect"; rootزيد ZYD "add".

THRESHOLD.

“If the birth took place in the house, then the woman gave birth on the threshold of the living space or in the house itself.”

- During the contractions, she had to walk around the hut, crossing all the thresholds.
- During a difficult birth, the woman in labor was transferred over the threshold of the hut three times, which symbolized the exit of the child from the mother’s womb.
- The woman in labor was forced to step over her own husband, who was lying face down on the threshold of the house; at worst, it was only possible to step over his pants.
- It is noteworthy that a pregnant woman was strictly forbidden to sit or stand on the threshold, or to pour water (VDJ) over the threshold (FRG).
Threshold –فرج (Germany) “open, liberate”, “female organs”.
فرغ (FRG*) – “to be empty, to empty, to liberate.”فرق (FRK(G) – “to divide.”
Russian PoRoG - empty-empty.

In Ukraine, to facilitate childbirth, they knock 3 times with their heels ( فتح FTH "open"; عقب JKB "heel, son, descendant";أعقب аък*aba "to leave offspring") about the threshold (FRG) of the hut, they drive around the hut through 3 thresholds or through 9 thresholds (there in front, and from there - backwardsذأد Z*D "to protect"; rootزيد ZYD "add"), lead 3 times across the road, transfer through the current, through the threshing floor (Kuzelya, 1906, pp. 21-22).

To successfully end a difficult birth, salt was sprinkled on the threshold (Germany), on the corners of the table (...). When in labor, women in labor circle her three times around the table. (V. Dal.)
- “The child has not yet been born, and they are already paving his way along the thresholds of the SoLyu hut, so that he will be born sooner and without much suffering from the mother.” (Rudnev, 1854, p. 103).
- “For the same purpose in Karelia, a woman in labor walked around the village 3 times ( ورود - DRV), taking with him a bundle (!) of SoLi. If the village is too big, she went around the house." (Zelenin, 1941, p. 120).

Salt – Arabic rootسل SL "pull out, extract, pull", "slip",سلالة SLL "offspring, children", "genus"صلح S*L(X*) “improve”, “correct”; salt-prayer -صلئ S*L – “to pray, to bless.”

“The fact that those present can influence the course of childbirth has been known for a long time. In Ancient Greece, there was a myth that Hera ordered her moirai to cross the fingers of their hands in order to delay the birth of Hercules.”
2 r. TsLB – “fingers” PLC = TsLB + cross صلب TsLB – “to prop up”, “to be or make hard, firm”, “cross”, “to be stiff about parts of the body”.
“The midwife, when delivering a child, “took down her hair, untied all the knots and clasps and forced the mother-in-law, who was present here, to do the same.”
"The husband unbuttons the collar ( ورود - vurud) shirt, loosens his belt and takes off his boots." ...

Be patient, both of you!

In different localities, the presence of the husband during childbirth was treated differently by the wife. Most Europeans were of the opinion that the presence of a husband speeds up labor and makes it less painful. Where the husband's participation was not the norm, he was called upon only in case of difficult childbirth. The role of the husband during childbirth is varied: from simple help and support to magical actions.
- “He will bring water to his wife, and during labor he will lead her around the hut”;
- “shakes the woman in labor during protracted labor (Scotland, Ireland, Breton, etc.).
(رج - RJ - “shake, shake”; ar.rootمخض MHD * has two meanings - “to shake” and “to have labor pains, birth pangs”) ;
- “gives you the opportunity to depend on yourself” (رجح – RZHH – outweigh, pull -وسع EVERYTHING "expand" وسق VS - “to load”, “to burden” (the woman in labor expands herself, loads her husband);
- “The husband was recommended to kiss his wife deeply for a long time during labor,” (kiss from Ar.وصل vasal “reach” VNN), “deliver”;ورود ; (in English childbirth = delivery delivery in the reverse reading of VLD), join childbirth, bring closer;
It’s interesting that in Arabic.قبلل K*BL – “to receive a child during childbirth”; "kiss".
- “among the Czechs, the husband had to pick her up and hold her in his arms for as long as possible. Thus, the two bodies seemed to merge into one, forming a single organism that produces offspring.” Bothحمل X*ML: “to take, lift, carry, be pregnant”; He -حمل , she - حامل -pregnant; - فوق FUK* "above", فق - FC - “to untie”, “to liberate”.
- During the pushing, “they demanded that he blow into the bottle with all his might” – blow = DV = VD (birth) (bottle - from Arabicبتولة batu:la "girl" V.N.N.) = DeVa = VDЪ (childbirth).
- “It is considered very effective if, while helping his wife to push, he takes off his pants or, even better, strips naked.”
- “the husband (during difficult childbirth) had to crawl between the legs of the standing woman in labor.”
نجا NG(F) “save, deliver” Zhenu (+رجل – “man, husband”; “leg”) (about the connection between ZhN and NG VNN);
جرد LRE – “to expose, to expose.”
(From the section “Newborn” - “a naked midwife with a naked child in her arms walks around the bathhouse (or house), while casting a spell so that the morning dawn will take away all possible illnesses from the child.نجا NG(F) – “save, deliver”).
“A knife was placed under the pillow of a woman in labor to protect her from evil spirits.”
- The husband “pulled his wife by the shirt” (Bulgaria),ربح RBH "profit", because the addition of the family is expected; (pull to untie - both the shirt and the pregnant woman - connection),
- “it was supposed to give the wife water (VDJ) from mouth to mouth (...)”;
“The Poles, for example, had the wife sit on her husband’s lap during labor.”
"The wife gives birth - the husband harrows the sand (from custom)." (V. Dahl).
(حط X*T* "line" - خط HT* “put”, why sand FSH: “give, clear the road, remove an obstacle from the road”, and m.b. It’s easier to harrow in the sense of defending the PSK)
“They say toothache on a borax tooth.” (V. Dahl).
Husband and wife are one Satan (situn-six-nine-generations).
To facilitate future childbirth, the bride during the wedding, at the moment when the priest led her around the lectern with the groom, had to say: “I will bring the offerings, and the husband will suffer, or on the first wedding night, unbutton the husband’s button.ذر (ZR - button ذرة zarra "grain", "seed") (...).

“They prepared in advance for the moment of CHILDREN; during the wedding, the bride tumbled three times over the groom. Thus, the rite of reincarnation was performed” (to transfer the birth pangs to her husband).
6 (woman) - turnover – 9 (childbirth) 609 = gender V.N.N.

DeVa - turnover - VD - childbirth.

Rituals associated with the belief that the presence of the husband and his certain actions during childbirth alleviate the suffering of the wife and speed up childbirth are genetically related to the ancient custom of KUVADA.
KUVADA (from the French couvade - hatching eggs) - a ritual imitation of labor pains by the husband of a woman in labor (the man simulates labor pains, lies in the bed of the woman in labor, accepts congratulations on the successful outcome of childbirth, nurses the child, etc.) ... more often there is meaning direct imitation of childbirth. Couvade is common among many peoples, described in other Greek. historians (Diodorus Siculus - in Corsica, Strabo - among the Celts of Spain, etc.). At the east Slavs, similar phenomena were attested (back in the 19th century) among the Belarusians and in the Russian regions adjacent to Belarus. terr. (Smolensk province). Just with the Russians. (Elninsky district, Smolensk province) a curious ritual is recorded: the husband lies on the bed and a thread is tied to his genitals; when the woman in labor groans, the midwife pulls the thread, causing the husband to groan as well. (Russian Hum. Enz. Dictionary) Lit.: Khazanov A. M. Mysterious couvade: (Ethnographers tell). M., 1978.
“So, it is known that even during the years of the civil war in Belarusian Polesie, men were inflicted such pain that they suffered extremely.”

There is a widespread belief in Great Britain that is believed to be an echo of couvade.
“If a husband has a toothache or suddenly falls ill, this is a sign that his wife is going into labor.”
"... both during the war of 1914 and during the war of 1939, the appearance of a soldier on the front line with a cheek swollen due to gumboil (FLS) invariably evoked the same question from the senior sergeant: “No way your wife is giving birth.” " - and the answer was usually in the affirmative. Here is another letter: "... every time my wife is going to give birth. My teeth are starting to hurt unbearably... I had x-rays and duodenal intubation done several times to find the cause of the pain. Then they found out that I was about to have a child, and unanimously declared that they had been fussing with me for so long." Here is another letter, from Norfolk: "One of my relatives was once fishing. Suddenly his teeth hurt terribly, although he does not have a single tooth. His friend advised him to write home and ask his wife something. Imagine his surprise when he found out that she actually ALREADY (gave birth)." http://www.token.ru/251.shtml
"from the French couvade - hatching eggs." (interestingly, the origin of the name of this custom is attributed to the French to six-winged roosters).
ك (k) - “like” +باض ba:d (ba:z) “to hatch eggs”, (بيض – egg) (BD* - BZ – ЪЗБ - ЗБ);
K + ВДъ -ك + وضع – it turns out – “like childbirth”;
CBD –كبد “to burden, burden”, “to force to endure”, “to take on labor, burden.”
KVD –قود "to be led, to give in to something, to be led"
"leash, leash"; KBL – “pregnant”, “rope, leash”.
عذأب -ЪЗ*Б – torment is transferred to the teeth according to consonance.
“The cow is giving birth, but the bull’s tail hurts.” V. Dahl.
It remains to add that the increased sensitivity of English husbands (“with protruding teeth” Simiya, 37) to childbirth apparently lies in the fact that “teeth” in English. teeth – ti:s*, which is consonant with nine in Arabic. language, which is a number indicating childbirth.
A search on the Internet yielded the result that Russian husbands, who now have the opportunity to be present at childbirth, are engaged in the fact that during contractions, in their own words, they “talk their teeth” to their wife in order to distract them from the torment (عذأب -ЪЗ*Б – flour; X*DR - “to charm one’s teeth”, woman in labor - birth).
And two more quotes:
"... the generally accepted euphemism (?) is indicative - the command with which a woman is called to give birth: “Come on.” “And all the time I was sitting and waiting to be received, I heard the following shouts: “Come on, come on, come on, come on.” "Come on! Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" (“Motherlands” by E. Belousov “Knowledge is power online”)
“Very often, the words of doctors, like conspiracies, are allegorical. It is not always possible to call a spade a spade - our ancestors knew this. And still no one will tell a woman during labor: “Give birth, give birth.” She will be called to action differently: "Come on, come on!" (No comments).

In ancient times in Rus' it was believed that everything that happens to a person - be it birth, death or illness - is subject to the dark, unclean, afterlife, evil world. The birth and death of a person were especially frightening to superstitious people. They believed that a newly born person, that is, someone who had just come from an evil world, could bring with him danger to those already living. In this regard, there were a lot of rituals with the help of which the newborn and his mother were cleansed of evil spirits.

Our ancestors sincerely believed that not only a child is a carrier of evil spirits, but also his mother poses a danger to the living, since she serves as a conductor between worlds: the manifest world and another, unclean world. Through the body of a woman, a child comes into the earthly world. But along with the child, evil spirits can also enter the earthly world. Thus, rituals were performed not only on the baby, but also on his mother. These rites were called “cleansing”, that is, they cleansed from dark forces. There were two types of rituals: church and folk.

Church rites of purification include reading prayers during childbirth and sprinkling holy water in the room where the woman in labor lies. Even today one can find such cleansing rituals in some villages. As a rule, prayers are read by priests who adhere to the old faith.

Birth rites

On the day of birth, a midwife (a woman who will deliver the child and perform the duties of an obstetrician-gynecologist and nurse), close friends and relatives comes to the woman in labor. Oddly enough, even these people are considered dangerous to people, since they were present at the “sinful event” - the birth of a baby. That is, they could be possessed by an evil spirit that came to earth during childbirth. As soon as all the procedures are completed after the baby leaves the mother’s womb, the owner of the house invites a priest who sprinkles holy water on the house, the child’s room, reads prayers of purification for the mother, the child and, separately, for the women who were present at the birth.

After reading the prayers, the mother and father of the child must give their child a name (necessarily on the same day). Then a day is set when the baby will be baptized. This is where the role of the priest ends for the time being. This completes the first stage of cleansing. Only after this could all the residents of the house breathe easy and not worry about their future.

Next comes the second stage cleansing baby and mother. It consists of washing the mother and child in a bathhouse. In some settlements of Rus', it was customary to give birth directly in the bathhouse, where the mother and child were kept for several days. In other places, a woman gave birth in a house, and then she and the child were transferred to a bathhouse, where the first days of the baby’s life were spent. Both in Orthodoxy and in paganism, a woman was considered “unclean,” and where, if not in a bathhouse, can one wash away uncleanness? In any case, the mother and child ended up in a bathhouse, a few hours after giving birth, where a midwife performed a cleansing ritual.

We always started with the child. Before washing the baby's body, the midwife generously poured water on the stones so that the steam filled the entire steam room. This was necessary to make the body soft. Another belief of our ancestors: the fetus is always hard, like a bone or stone, even when the baby comes out of the womb, it remains hard. Steam was needed to soften it. Then the newborn was placed on a bath broom and the “massage” began (popularly called “stretching”). The midwife kneaded the child's arms and legs, head, ears and nose, believing that in this way she would give the body the desired shape and correct any birth defects. This massage improved blood circulation, helped joints gain flexibility and skin elasticity.

When stretching, the midwife took the child's right arm and pulled it towards the left leg and, conversely, the left arm towards the right leg. The fact is that our ancestors believed that in the dark world everything is upside down, where there is right there is left, where there is up there is down. Consequently, the newborn, as having come from that world, is also upside down. The midwife “turned” the child as it should be in earthly life.

The baby's mother received no less attention. Arriving at the bathhouse, the midwife poured vodka (or another alcoholic drink) for the woman and let her lie there until she performed the ritual with the child. Then the restoration of the mother's body began. A woman who gave birth, according to legend, was considered born again. This was explained by the fact that her body underwent strong changes (her belly grew, her breasts enlarged), that is, it was destroyed, and therefore the woman died. After some time, the body returned to normal, this process was considered the birth of the mother. The role of the midwife is to speed up the process of “birth” of the woman and cleanse the newborn. The bath ritual was repeated every day for a week.

The last ritual in which the midwife participated was the ritual of girdling the baby on the eve of the fortieth day: the midwife reminded the woman in labor of the need to accept a cleansing prayer and performed the girdling ritual. The belt with which she tied the child was considered both as a magical amulet against evil forces and as a sign of longevity and health.

The rite of purification is followed by a church baptism ceremony. An unbaptized child caused fear in people; they were forbidden to kiss him, talk to him, or put things on him (the child was always in diapers). In some villages in Russia, the mother was even forbidden to call him by name. The baby was considered a sexless being and was not included in the family into which he was born.

Parents carefully chose godparents for their child, as they were considered spiritual mentors. Most often, relatives became godparents, since they would not abandon their godson and would always take care of him, educate him, and teach him. Children from six years of age and old people could become godparents (or godmothers), but preference was given to people of the same age as their parents. It was impossible to refuse the role of godfather; it was considered a blood grievance for the parents.

Just before the sacrament, the child was in the arms of the midwife, who handed him over to the godfather. The godmother was preparing the font for the ceremony. Water was poured into the font directly from the well; in no case was it heated or warm water added. It was believed that immersing a child in ice water (even in winter) gave him greater resistance to disease. If during baptism the candles in the hands of relatives smoked and burned poorly, it was believed that the child would get sick often or even die soon, but if the flame was bright, his life would be long.

After the ceremony was completed, the priest handed the baby over to the godparents: if a boy, then to the godmother, if a girl, then to the godfather, who carried the child into the house. After this, the baby became a full member of the family. The day after the baptism, relatives, friends and relatives came to the parents’ house. A feast was arranged, the first toasts were always made to the health of the child, his parents and the midwife who delivered the child.

tonsure (the ritual of a child's first tonsure)- celebrating the anniversary of the birth of a child. Godparents were always invited to this anniversary. In the middle of the room, on the floor, they spread a casing with the wool up (as a sign of amulets - a symbol of prosperity), they put a boy on it, the father throws some money on the casing so that the child’s life is rich and happy. The adoptive father cuts some of his godson's hair crosswise. Today, during this specific ritual, the child is often cut with a cross symbolically on four sides, the hair is cut a little in front, behind and on both sides above the ears, which should protect the child from evil forces on all sides.

A girl's type of tonsure is a rite of braiding, the ceremonial braiding of the first braids crosswise. For this ritual, the parents invited the godmother, who was presented with gifts after performing the ritual. A custom has still been preserved: on the birthday of a child, the mother bakes pies. Having chosen the largest of them and placing it on the top of the child’s head, she symbolically pulls the child up by the ears, saying that next year she has grown no less than the height of the pie.

Publications in the Traditions section

Rituals of the life cycle. Birth of a child

While waiting for the baby, during the birth process and until the 40th day of the child’s life, mother and baby are especially vulnerable. To make life easier for the mother and child, to give strength, to attract health and good luck, a huge number of ceremonies, rituals, and conspiracies were carried out in Rus'. We will tell you about the most amazing and interesting ones.

Child care in the Sudogodsky district of the Vladimir region

Kirill (Karl) Lemokh. New family member. 1890

In these parts, future parents tried to perform a series of ritual actions aimed at attracting good looks and good character to the child. To ensure that the baby had a clean face, the midwife blessed the pregnant woman to sweep the floor, saying that the cleaner she sweeps, the fewer blemishes there will be on the child’s skin. The expectant mother was recommended to eat the “right” foods: for the children to be white-skinned, it was recommended to eat cabbage and drink milk; to be ruddy, it was recommended to eat red berries.

To avoid giving birth to a lazy person, the woman was forbidden to sleep a lot.

A lot of ritual actions were aimed at facilitating childbirth: all the doors in the house were opened, the woman in labor was untied and all the knots on her clothes were untied.

Conspiracies were carried out using water or dough. In the event of a difficult birth, the midwife kneaded the dough and coated the woman in labor with it, casting a spell. A woman could be given holy water or water infused with celandine to drink.

If the born baby did not show signs of life, then the midwife performed rituals simulating rebirth. So, she could drag him through his parents’ clothes: the boy through his father’s, and the girl through her mother’s. And even, having coated the child with dough, she could place him in a cooling oven for a while, imitating finishing baking or overbaking, that is, finishing or remaking the child.

To normalize the child's breathing, the midwife either simply patted the child on the back, or tossed the child while reading prayers or incantations.

Tying to a Voronets in the Nyuksensky district of the Vologda region

Akim Karneev. Christening. 1833–1896

Pregnant women in these places were strictly forbidden to attend funerals. According to the researchers, “contact with death could have a detrimental effect on nascent life and complicate the birth process.”

There were folk signs associated with determining the sex of the unborn child: if the belly is wide, it will be a girl, but if the belly is sharp, it will be a boy.

In folk practice, there were methods that supposedly made the process of childbirth easier for a woman. For example, a woman in labor had to step over a clamp. Unfastening the buttons on the clothes of the people present in the house during childbirth was also supposed to help her: “So that it doesn’t tie anywhere.” Among the rather strange ways of facilitating difficult childbirth is tying the woman in labor to Voronets(beam from the stove to the wall) and shaking her by the legs.

A sign was written down by which the life expectancy (“longevity”) of a child was determined: “If the heels are long, he will be long-lived.”

Midwives of the Omsk Irtysh region

Kirill (Karl) Lemokh. New acquaintance. 1885

Childbirth in this area usually took place at home; a midwife was invited to the laboring woman. In one village there could be up to a dozen of them. Usually they invited the same midwife who delivered the woman’s first child. The mother-in-law or mother of the woman in labor could help. Men and children were removed from the house at this time. However, if the birth was delayed, then the husband was invited to the house parents, forced him to take off his trousers and throw them at the threshold, and mother-in-law- step over these trousers three times. They also led the woman in labor around the table, unraveled her hair, and freed her clothes from knots. With a successful outcome of childbirth, the child was wrapped “at the shelf”: the boy - made from his father’s old shirt, and the girl - from her mother’s skirt. At the same time, the grandmother tied the newborn’s umbilical cord with a harsh thread or mother’s hair

It was not necessary to prepare things for a newborn in advance.

For a long time, childbirth here took place without the participation of doctors, and even when a paramedic arrived, the process was still supervised by a midwife. It is noteworthy that the medical staff did not oppose the established rituals, but, on the contrary, took an active part in them. So, in 1963 a ritual was performed overbaking child in the Matyukov family with the participation of a medical worker.

The magic of juniper among the Kuban Nogais

Kirill (Karl) Lemokh. Parental joy. Previously 1910

In Nogai families, special significance is attached to the fact of the birth of a child. Maternity rites open the life cycle of a person - the heir and successor of the family. In the first week, they try to give the baby a name and determine his place in the house.

The parents of the child's father invited relatives and neighbors on a certain day. A baby wrapped in a white cloth was brought into the room where the guests were, a grandmother or aunt (also on the paternal side). The grandfather, having read a special prayer, took the baby with his right hand and pronounced his name three times in turn in each ear. The child’s parents could not be present when the ceremony was performed; it was also considered unethical to call one’s children by name in public.

The dried umbilical cord was wrapped in a white handkerchief and stored in a chest. The ceremony dedicated to the first laying in the cradle was carried out a few days after the umbilical cord had healed. Until this time, the child was in a temporary cradle. Believing in the magical properties of juniper, the Nogais tried to make at least one part of the cradle from it.

Swimming in salt water of the Nogais - Karagash

Peter Korovin. Christening. 1896

The first 40 days of a baby’s life are the most significant here, the main stage of “humanization”. The Nogais considered the body of a newly born baby to be raw, and in order for it to “harden” as quickly as possible, the baby was bathed in salted water for 40 days. There is a special term for a child who is more than 40 days old - kyrkynan shykkan bala(“a child who came out of forty”). Among the Nogais, like many peoples, the number forty has a sacred meaning. Before the 40th day, the child must be dressed in a shirt, given a name, placed in a cradle and his hair shaved. The ceremony of shaving off the hair was carried out by the grandfather or uncle on the mother's side, to whom the child was brought. The first hair is called Karyn Shash(“uterine hair”). People say that if they are not shaved, the child will be sickly and have a bad eye, his curses will come true. The boy's hair was wrapped in a piece of cloth or a scarf and tied to the horse's tail. They believed that this would make the child strong, resilient, and fast, like a horse. The girl’s hair was kept in a chest at home, so that she would become the keeper of the hearth, be thrifty and hardworking.

Petrozavodsk State Conservatory

them. A. K. Glazunova

Essay

In ethnomusicology

On the topic: Maternity rites of the Karelians

1st year students

Specialties "Ethnomusicology"

Simonova Marina

Petrozavodsk, 2013

Content:

Introduction.

What is a ritual?

Birth rites.

Conclusion.

Used Books.

Introduction

The way of internal life of a person in a traditional society contained at its core a capacious concept of structure, that is, order, harmony in everything. Its effectiveness was achieved through the regulation of all spheres of life, which took place in a certain cycle: either according to the calendar, or according to the stages of development of a person and his family. Each important event in the system of such cyclicity was accentuated by certain symbolic actions: rites, rituals and holidays - the most important components of folk spiritual culture.The daily life of the ethnos was organized by numerous customs, rites and rituals that traditionally developed during the life of the ethnos.

Ritual - a set of conditionally symbolic traditional actions that have become established among the people, accompanying important moments in a person’s personal life and production activity, designed to contribute to his prosperity: ritual, ceremony, ceremonial set of basic traditional actions, devoid of immediate practical expediency, but serving as a symbol of certain social relations, their form visual expression and reinforcement. Rituals were traditional actions that accompanied important moments in the life and production activities of the human collective and were designed to contribute to its prosperity. Custom is not only symbolic, but any generally repeated action established by tradition. Rituals were considered as necessary a component of life as holidays. Therefore, all more or less significant events of people - be it the birth of a child, marriage, the change of seasons, the beginning and end of seasonal work - were accompanied by the performance of special ritual actions dedicated to this occasion.

The traditional rituals of the Karelians were formed over many centuries, absorbing the features of the historical and cultural development of the people, the evolution of their worldview. This predetermined adherence to established patterns and norms of behavior, the collective nature of rituals, the preservation of many traditional rituals, and the presence of a powerful layer of religious and magical ideas. Among family rituals, maternity rituals were relatively simple, in which sanitary-hygienic and religious-magical ritual actions predominated.

Rituals of the children's cycle. In accordance with popular beliefs, they sought to ensure the health and well-being of the new offspring long before the birth itself. For these purposes, the wedding and the wedding night were timed to coincide with the new moon; they believed that a mother, giving her braided braid to her daughter at the moment of encirclement, passed on to her the ability to bear children; the midwife, who was invited to the woman in labor, participated in the rite of engulfing; to ensure the health of future children, the bride and groom were treated to milk and berries; the blessing of parents was considered an important condition for the happy life of young people and their children, etc.

Rituals associated with the birth of a new family member included various sanitary, hygienic and religious-magical actions. The desire to ensure the normal course of pregnancy, a successful outcome of childbirth and the birth of a healthy child led to the formation of a system of different norms of behavior for his mother and the emergence of many signs. Thus, a pregnant woman was not allowed to cut her hair, so as not to shorten the future life of the child; she was not allowed to look in the mirror, otherwise the child could be born ugly. It was also forbidden to wear dirty underwear - a newborn could become a slob, etc. The expectant mother was protected from fright, she was advised to avoid quarrels, she was forbidden to go to the cemetery, to look at the dead, as cattle were slaughtered. A pregnant woman, in order to protect herself from the evil eye, unbraided her left braid and wore various amulets: a piece of an old seine, her husband’s sash, etc.

They tried to hide the due date from others. Therefore, pregnant women often worked until the last hour, so that sometimes childbirth could occur right in the meadow or in the field. In general, they gave birth as secretly as possible, sometimes even alone. But usually the mother-in-law or an invited midwife helped during childbirth. To give birth, women, as a rule, went to a bathhouse or to a barn, to a sheep shelter. The bathhouse was heated before childbirth. The woman in labor was usually allowed to let her hair down and make sure there were no knots or fasteners on her clothes. During difficult births, they opened the visors in the oven - all this, according to the ideas of the Karelians, like the Russians, was supposed to make childbirth easier. If the birth took place in a hut, then in difficult cases the woman in labor was taken down to a step leading underground; it was believed that the souls of ancestors living there helped the living. The midwife who delivered the baby was a kind of healer: she knew various rituals to help childbirth, conspiracies and spells to ensure the well-being of the woman in labor and the newborn. Conspiracies were addressed to both pagan and Christian deities - both to the “supreme god Ukko” and to the Virgin Mary. The midwife has with her and various amulets for the newborn (mercury, the first wool of a lamb, a silver coin, etc.).

After the birth of a child, the midwife performed rituals that were supposed to ensure the well-being of the newborn and the woman in labor. This was considered especially necessary since both of them were easily vulnerable to evil forces during this period. The newborn did not yet have a “personal” patron spirit, and the woman was considered unclean and was temporarily outside the protection of the church. First of all, the midwife carried out the ritual of protecting the mother and child with the help of “iron” (an axe, a scythe, a knife), “fire” (a burning splinter) and a stone, walking with these objects around the lying mother and child twice in the direction of the sun and once against the sun. According to the notes of A. Genetz, this was interpreted as the creation of an invisible “iron fence entwined with lizards and snakes” around the child, and the soul of an unbaptized child “became strong as stone.” When performing amulet rituals, many midwives also resorted to Christian means: they used an icon of the Mother of God, fumigated the woman in labor and the newborn with incense. When a child first bathed, sulfur, ashes, silver coins, iron nail heads, and barley grains were placed in the water as a talisman. The water was then poured under the floor of the bathhouse so that no one could trample it.

The midwife also carried out such actions as giving the baby's head the correct shape and massaging his arms and legs.

The first swaddling of a newborn was also supposed to be carried out by the midwife. At the same time, she wrapped the boy in a diaper from his father’s shirt, and the girl from her mother’s stanushka shirt. Over the baby's diaper, they tightly twisted it with a swaddling cloth, made for a boy from his father's belt, for a girl - from braid, a ribbon from her mother's braid.

Charms were placed in the cradle where the child slept: a bear claw or tooth, a rooster feather with a drop of mercury, a pebble from the hearth of the stove, scissors for a girl, and a knife for a boy.

Village residents were notified of the appearance of a newborn in the house by curtaining the window in the hut. But the woman in labor herself spent the first days after giving birth in a bathhouse, which was heated with special firewood (from wood broken by lightning). A few days later, after a special ablution, she could go to the hut. It is known, however, that some mothers-in-law (from among the Old Believers) forced their daughters-in-law and their child to live in a bathhouse for weeks. The transition of a mother with a newborn to a home was supposed to mean the acceptance of the child into the family and clan, so this happened in compliance with established rituals. The midwife usually carried the child into the hut, and the daughter-in-law, bowing at her mother-in-law’s feet, asked her to nurse him and “look after” the child. The positive reaction of the husband's family served as evidence of the recognition of the child as a new member of the family. After the birth of her first child, the daughter-in-law presented her mother-in-law with a sundress or a shirt, and her father-in-law with a shirt (from the everyday life and beliefs of Korels...)

For the woman in labor, even after moving into the house, there were strict standards of behavior, determined by the fact that, on the one hand, she was “unclean,” and on the other, as a result of this position, she was vulnerable to evil forces. She slept in the hut behind a curtain, on the floor, and ate from separate dishes. She was forbidden to rinse her clothes in running water or dry her clothes in the yard; custom also forbade her to wash herself with rainwater, go after sunset for water or firewood, stand under the eaves of the roof, etc. She could only leave the yard with some kind of amulet in her pocket, and at the same time she should avoid meeting strangers .

Before church cleansing, a woman in labor could not go not only to church, but also to the cemetery.

In the first time after the birth of a child, villagers came to their homelands. Sometimes these visits took place while the woman in labor and the baby were in the bathhouse. According to tradition, only married women visited the woman in labor. They carried treats with them - usually porridge and various pies and pies. As a gift for the child, they brought chintz, old sheets for diapers, as well as a coin, usually silver, the so-called “tooth money”. It was assumed that the coin served as a talisman for the child until his first tooth erupted. According to ancient ideas, the emergence of the first tooth testified to the child’s becoming a full-fledged personality, which meant the appearance of his guardian -haldia. Baptism was a church rite that took root among the people relatively easily. This was facilitated by the fact that when a child was baptized, he seemed to come under the protection of the saint in whose honor he received the name; this corresponded to pre-Christian ideas that a newborn child especially needs a guardian spirit. The ritual also symbolized the child’s entry into the ranks of the entire community. Baptism among Karelians more often took place at home than in church. This was largely due to the long distances separating many villages from the church, and in winter, to severe cold. The priests therefore visited the villages periodically. If the child was weak and they feared for his life, the midwife could also baptize him. The name of the child was usually chosen according to the calendar. According to generally accepted Christian custom, every child has a godfather and a godmother. On the occasion of the baptism of a child, a christening was held, to which all relatives were invited. The guests gave gifts to the child, and the most expensive gifts were given to him by his godparents - usually it was fabric for a shirt or dress. The parents of the newborn, in turn, presented the godparents with shirts, towels, mittens or stockings. Godparents were considered as the child's educators, guardians and advisers even in adulthood. In the event of the death of one of the godparents, North Karelian traditions allowed the choice of a new godparent (godmother). To do this, it was necessary to bring “cross bread” to the future godfather (godmother) on the fourth week of Lent. Fearing damage, the evil eye, and the machinations of evil spirits, for the first six weeks the shaky area was covered with a canopy. Infants were not allowed to cry much, being rocked for a long time in the cradle. It was not supposed to swing an empty quiver or leave it empty.

Conclusion

It can be assumed that the excessive saturation of traditional maternity rituals with religious and magical elements, the basis of which were all kinds of superstitions and mystical ideas, most of all contributed to the fact that to this day it has been preserved among the Karelians, only in the form of fragmentary and superficial memories, and of all the multifaceted ritual cycle continues to exist and has even now received some development only in the custom of visiting the woman in labor and the child, giving them appropriate gifts (now they give pies, fabrics, toys, etc.). This “old custom,” wrote V.V. Pimenov, “acquired new content - it expressed society’s gratitude to the mother for giving birth to a future citizen.”

The fate of the traditional Karelian maternity rituals is quite natural. Already in the 1930s. its roots, going back thousands of years, were undermined by the successes of socialist construction and the cultural revolution. The working and living conditions of the peasantry have changed, the general well-being has increased, and the network of medical institutions has steadily expanded in Karelia, as throughout the country. Sanitary work and cultural and educational activities have achieved significant success, thanks to which the majority of the Karelian population began to have an increasingly negative attitude towards traditional maternity rituals with its superstitions and magical rituals.

Used Books:

E. I. Klementyev “Karelias”, Petrozavodsk “Karelia” 1991

E. I. Klementyev, N. V. Shlygina “Baltic-Finnish peoples of Russia”, Moscow Science 2003.

Yu. Yu. Surkhasko “Family rituals and beliefs of Karelians”, publishing house “Nauka” 1985.

Russian traditional maternity rituals include several stages: 1) pre-maternity rituals, aimed at conceiving a child and protecting the mother and fetus; 2) rituals accompanying the birth of a child; 3) the ritual of introducing a child to home, family, society; 4) a postpartum ritual of protecting a newborn from otherworldly forces, lasting about a year, ending with tonsure for some groups.

From wedding to childbirth. Maternity rituals began to be performed not from the moment of childbirth or even conception, but during the wedding ceremony. The birth of children was encouraged by sprinkling the newlyweds when they entered the house after the wedding; it was believed that thanks to this they would have boys. For the same purpose, they sat a boy on the bride’s lap during the wedding feast, beat pots, wishing the bride and groom: “As many skulls as there are children,” and left the wedding feast with the words: “God grant you, Ivan Ivanovich, to become rich, and you, Marya Ivanovna, should hump in front.” The absence of children in the family was considered a great misfortune; this idea had a moral and ethical meaning - why unite the masculine and feminine principles if there are no offspring; in addition, childlessness was seen as a sign of God's punishment for some sins.

Artificial termination of pregnancy was considered a huge crime against morality. But in the absence of contraceptives, children could be born every year; not every family could support such a large offspring, so they resorted to abortions, which, naturally, were not always successful. In a large family, the death of a child was not always viewed as a tragedy: “God gave and God took away,” and during the wedding they wished: “God give you children, but with a decrease.” There were also magical means aimed both at the birth of children in the family, for example, a smooth ochep was used to hang a cradle, and to prevent the next birth, for which a new ochep was made, on which knots were specially left. They also used other magical measures to prevent pregnancy - they forbade children from walking around the table, a little girl from rocking an empty cradle, etc.

Russian traditional society was characterized by a preference for boys over girls at birth, which was explained by many circumstances: the family was inherited (which, however, was not given such great importance as in a number of other peoples); often, according to community traditions, only men were entitled to land allotments; To marry daughters, it was necessary to collect a dowry, which required considerable expenses; finally, according to tradition, it was one of the sons, but not the daughter at all, who was supposed to support his parents in old age. Therefore, it was argued that “raising a daughter is like pouring into a leaky barrel.”

They tried to hide the onset of pregnancy from the “evil eye”, so the woman wore loose clothes, her condition was spoken of metaphorically - heavy, on the verge of pregnancy, the timing of pregnancy was hidden. There were special instructions for the behavior of a pregnant woman, both rational and sacred in nature, which were not always, as in other cases, clearly distinguishable. She was forbidden to look at the fire, at the slaughter of cattle, at the dead, to quarrel, swear, lift heavy objects, or go on a long journey.

There were, of course, prohibitions of a clearly magical nature - pushing away domestic animals (the brownie will be angry), stepping over a horse's arch (the child will be born humpbacked), over the reins (during childbirth the child will become entangled in the umbilical cord), sitting on a stone (the birth will be difficult) etc. As a talisman, she had to stick a pin inside her clothes (protective functions were attributed to a sharp iron object). If any prohibitions had to be violated, then to remove the negative consequences of the violation, certain preventive actions were taken. For example, a pregnant woman could approach a deceased person by putting a red rag or a red-painted spoon in her bosom.

Special behavior towards a pregnant woman was also prescribed for those around her. So, it was impossible to refuse her anything (the mice would gnaw up the harvest), and if she had to, then after her (let’s note the etymology of this word: literally “in the trail,” which reflects the magical actions that were once performed with the trace of a person) she had to throw a loaf of bread .

Childbirth. The woman in labor was usually removed from the living quarters, usually to a bathhouse, if there was one, and this had both practical and magical meaning. Childbirth is stressful for others, even adults, not to mention children. Meanwhile, in a peasant hut, usually single-chamber, it was impossible to isolate a woman in labor. The usually unsanitary conditions of peasant housing, especially in cold weather, did not contribute to childbirth - cramped conditions, stuffy air, smoke from a black-burning stove, and the stench from domestic animals kept there. And the bathhouse was warm, relatively clean, and there was hot water at hand for washing the newborn and the woman in labor.

But there was also a sacred meaning in the removal of the woman in labor. The child, in accordance with popular ideas, came to “this world” from the other world; the position of the bathhouse, located on the outskirts of the estate or near the water, was borderline between the human world and the other world. In addition, the position of the woman in labor, bordering on the “other world,” determined her status as a ritually unclean creature, which explained the need to remove her from the home. For the same reason, for 40 days after giving birth, she was forbidden to go to church (as well as during menstruation, because in the popular consciousness a woman’s vulva was thought of as an entrance to the other world, which opens during childbirth and menstrual cycles).

Provided assistance to the woman in labor midwife, a woman who had the practice of obstetrics and knowledge in the field of maternity rituals, who had certain personal qualities - impeccable behavior, at the age when menstruation ends, in some cases she was necessarily a widow. The midwife had no right to refuse a woman in labor; it was believed that in this case she would become petrified. The midwife indicated in what position a woman should give birth, and Russian women gave birth lying down, sometimes standing, and even while walking until the baby’s head appeared. To induce labor, the midwife forced the woman in labor to blow into a bottle, swallow hair, gave her water with soot, massaged the abdomen, the midwife knew how to turn the fetus, knew hemostatic drugs, she cut the newborn’s umbilical cord and washed him for the first time.

If childbirth was difficult, then magical actions were taken to ease it - locks were unlocked, doors and windows were swung open, belts were untied, chest lids were opened, etc., in critical situations they asked the priest to open the “royal doors” in the church. Apparently, in this way a path was opened from the other world, from where, according to popular beliefs, the child came. Lighting a lamp during childbirth and placing burning candles in front of the icons on the shrine had an undeniably Christian character, although it may have simultaneously reflected some archaic ideas, in particular, about the darkness of the other world.

When a newborn was born, his umbilical cord was cut off, often with an ax on a “male” or “female” object depending on the gender of the child: for a boy on an oak block, an ax handle, for a girl on an alder block, “gingerbread”. They buried the afterbirth, which was considered as an “incorrectly” born person, so it was sent back in compliance with the norms of funeral rituals - washed, “dressed” in a clean rag, placed in a bast shoe (symbol of the road), gifts were put there, apparently for the newborn child - bread , grain, eggs, and were buried in a place where no one could disturb him, but always connected with the house - in a holy corner under the floor, under the threshold, in the stable.

If a child was born In a shirt(amniotic membrane), then this was considered an omen of his happy life; it was not without reason that they said about a lucky person: “I was born in a shirt.” The dried “shirt” was a sacred object; it, sewn into a rag, was worn next to the cross on the chest, could be stored somewhere, and sometimes it was passed down in the family from generation to generation.

The birth of twins was often viewed as a misfortune, “God’s punishment,” obviously, this was seen as an analogy with the large number of offspring in the animal world and, therefore, the exclusion of the mother and newborns from the human world. In such cases, parents and newborns did not come to visit with congratulations, as usual. But among some groups of Russians, on the contrary, this was considered a sign of God’s favor; it was argued that one child was given by the Lord, and the other by the Mother of God.

The newborn was washed with water into which coins were thrown “for good luck”; they were usually taken by the midwife, sometimes also salt, an egg, and the wax of a lit candle was dripped into it. Washing was an important not only hygienic, but also a magical procedure. It is characteristic of all three rites of the life cycle - maternity, wedding and funeral, since during them the transition of a person from one state to another took place. The water washed away the aura of the old state, absorbing it into itself, which made it “dead” and dangerous for people. This explains the instructions for special treatment of it: it was poured out on border areas - estates, on boundaries, etc., thereby sending it to the other world. A ritual was performed using water washing away hands a woman in labor and a midwife after the end of childbirth, characteristic of a number of groups of the Russian ethnic group, during which they mutually poured water on their hands three times, and then asked each other for forgiveness.

If a child was born weak, then actions were taken to “finish” him. child overbaked- on a bread shovel they thrust it into the mouth of the oven, based in this ritual on the analogy: raw dough is natural, baked dough is human. In other cases, he was dragged through objects considered as an entrance to the other world - the mother’s spread legs, a through hollow of a tree, a fork in branches, a collar, etc.

The midwife, having received and washed the child, rules his body was crushed, imitating the design of his human appearance, since he came from “the other world,” which is characterized by chaos, into the world of man, culture, where orderliness reigns. The newborn was measured, which had a symbolic meaning: in this way his presence in “this world” was demonstrated, since everything real has a measure. Naming a child a name had the same meaning: everything that exists is named (“With a name - Ivan, and without a name - a blockhead”).

The name was given according to the Saints, and since almost every day of the Christian calendar is associated with several figures of Christian saints, there was a choice. But there were other norms for determining the name of a newborn. Thus, the first-born could be named, according to gender, by the name of his grandfather or grandmother, since it was believed that the souls of deceased ancestors return to “this world” and inhabit the body of the descendant. With a short life expectancy, many of them did not live to see the birth of their third generation descendants. Sometimes names were pronounced in front of the newborn, and if he responded to any of them with a cry, it was given to him. Before the deep introduction of Christianity into the life of the Russian people, along with the names according to the Saints, non-Christian names were given - Zhdanka (long-awaited child), Bogdanka (given by God), there were names such as Tretyak (third child), Warrior, Unlucky, Wolf and others, and they were used , often forgetting Christian names.

Even after giving birth, the midwife could go with the woman in labor to the bathhouse for several days, where she gave her massage and other health procedures and, in addition, taught her how to care for the child and his magical accompaniment - spells and other irrational methods of treating diseases - hernia, scrofula , keels, fright, lessons, etc.

A woman in labor was considered “unclean” for 40 days after giving birth; she, as already noted, was forbidden to go to church, touch Christian sacred objects, she was not supposed to knead bread, milk a cow, salt cabbage, plant or sow anything, the opportunities for her and her child in the home isolated her from others.

After the birth of a child, it was customary for married women of about the same age to visit his mother. It was called conducting, or sampling. Those who came brought food in large quantities, and in return it was customary to treat them.

Introducing the child to home, family, society. After the birth, magical actions were also performed to introduce the child to the home and family, for which he was carried three times around the home, applied to the stove, and placed in the front corner on a casing turned upside down. It was also necessary to show that the newborn is the child of not only the mother, but also the father. To do this, they dragged him through his father’s shirt, and not a new one, but a worn one, soaked with his sweat.

After birth, they tried to baptize the child as quickly as possible, because an unbaptized person, even a sinless one, according to Christian ideas, could not be awarded heaven after death. Baptism usually took place a few days after birth.

He was baptized not by his biological relatives, but by the so-called God-parents. This had both a practical, purely rational meaning (if the real parents died, then the godparents had to take over the upbringing of the child) and a deep symbolic meaning (which consisted in demonstrating that man is not only a biological, but also a social being). Through godparents, the child’s connections with society were established.

Godparents - godfather And godmother(in the north they adore And rich woman) - could be close relatives of a godson or goddaughter, often these were the uncle and aunt of the newborn. But godparents could be distant relatives or not relatives at all, for example, neighbors. If children often died in the family, then the first people they met were taken as godparents, since they were considered by traditional consciousness as messengers from the “other world.” In archaic times, all members of the community took part in the event taking place in it; a stranger who happened to be at the same time, a member of another team, was a representative of someone else’s space, which was identified with the otherworldly. Baptism by the first person encountered, thus, was considered as giving the child under the protection of the other world, omniscient, omnipotent, its powers were used to protect the newborn.

As a result of baptism, a special relationship between godparents was established with each other and with biological parents - they all became each other godfathers. In traditional beliefs, intimate relationships between godparents were equated to incest, but over time, the uncle and aunt of the newborn often became godparents. Obviously, this was facilitated by the weakening of community ties, when it was necessary to rely more on family connections, and the uncle and aunt were the closest indirect relatives of the older generation to the child. Nepotism was equated with kinship, which implied obligatory mutual assistance and mutual hospitality on holidays.

Baptism, although it was a Christian act, was also accompanied by traditional rituals. The path to the church was thought of as long and dangerous; while moving, the godparents threw bread, coals, and coins over their left (unclean) shoulders, which was a sacrifice to the spirits-owners of the area: a new creature had appeared in their possessions, it was necessary to appease them with gifts so that they he was accepted. Wool, money, and incense were placed in the font where the child was baptized for the well-being of his life. These were the same objects that were placed between the crowns of the house as a construction sacrifice, since in the archaic consciousness the construction of a house was equated with the birth of a person. The godparents gave the newborn gifts, the nature of which demonstrated his involvement in the human and Christian world - a shirt, a belt, a cross.

Before bringing the child into the house when returning from church, coals, an ax, a knife, and keys were placed on the threshold; these items were supposed to prevent hostile otherworldly forces from entering the home along with the newborn. It was believed that he was still in a transitional state, because the ritual of his “translation” into people themselves had not yet been completed, and therefore he carried with him the aura of the other world.

An important action at the moment of bringing a child into the house is placing it on the threshold. Comparison of this action with that which was performed during a funeral - the coffin was hit on the threshold, this was called shake out the soul, makes it possible to understand that placing a newborn on the threshold is aimed at receiving his soul. The threshold was thought of as the border between one’s own, human world and the rest, the otherworldly, where the souls of the dead go and from where newborns receive them.

After returning from church, we settled down christening with a meal to which the midwife, godparents, relatives and neighbors were invited. Porridge was a mandatory dish on the table, and the ritual itself could be called porridge, or grandma's porridge. By eating this dish, which was a symbol of the concept of “many,” society sought to ensure its constant replenishment with new members, the regeneration of generations. Often the father did not participate in this meal, or his participation was quite specific - he was given a spoonful of over-salted porridge and he had to eat it. This action is interpreted either as a symbolic cleansing, or as a reduced rite of couvade - the father’s imitation of birth pangs and thus a demonstration that the newborn belongs not only to the mother, but also to the father. The second assumption is also proven by other maternity rituals in which the father was a participant: for example, dressing him during childbirth in his wife’s skirt and scarf, demanding that he blow into a bottle at this time, like the woman in labor; tying the umbilical cord of a newborn with the hair of not only the mother, but also the father.

During the baptismal meal, its participants broke bread over the head of the newborn - so that it grows faster, they talk a lot - so that it begins to speak earlier; the children, if they were present, had to run - so that he would start walking faster; before leaving, the godparents would rest - so that he would be calm.

In some places in the North, there was a custom to plant a tree by the road after the birth of a child: spruce for a boy, willow for a girl, or, regardless of gender, birch. During this action, a conspiracy was pronounced with the wish that the newborn be as strong as a tree. This was also a remnant of archaic ideas, in which the tree was seen as a double of man. When a person was absent, they monitored the condition of the tree; if it began to dry, then this was seen as a sign of misfortunes happening to the person, and if it died, it was evidence of his death.

Postpartum rituals. Postpartum rituals in the form of certain actions, prohibitions and instructions were performed for about a year after the birth of the child. Thus, it was forbidden to bring the child to the mirror (he will not speak for a long time), rock an empty cradle (he will have a headache), look at the sleeping child (he will lose sleep), etc.

The placing of the child in the cradle was accompanied by rituals and regulations. Her, as well as ochep- the pole on which it was hung in the northern regions had to be made from a certain type of wood, in some places - from spruce, in others - from birch, somewhere else - from pine, etc. As mentioned, if they wanted children to continue to be born in the family, the ochep was smooth, otherwise the cradle was hung on the ochep with knots. The physical weakness of a child was identified with powerlessness from harmful otherworldly forces, therefore there were numerous ritual actions aimed at protecting him: the cradle was sprinkled with “holy water”, smeared with resin or a cross was cut out on it, scissors were placed in it, and sleep-grass was placed in it for a good sleep.

They tried to feed the baby with breast milk; they used it for artificial feeding. pacifier, which was made from a cow's horn with a hole at the pointed end, onto which a nipple from the cow's udder was placed. A pacifier was also called chewed bread in a rag, which was given to the child soon after birth. From the 5th-6th week he was fed diluted cow's milk, then liquid gruel. Breastfeeding continued until “six fasts,” i.e., until about 1.5 years, after which giving the child milk, even breast milk, but still classified as fast food, was considered a sin. Completion of breastfeeding was considered as the child's entry into the next stage of life, so it was accompanied by a certain ritual. For example, the last time he was fed was on the threshold, after which a set of objects was placed in front of him, and his occupation was determined by which one he took. If a boy took a knife, it foreshadowed that he would become a craftsman; if a girl took a spinning wheel, it meant that she would be a good spinner.

The cycle of maternity rites was completed tonsured, as the ceremony of removing a child's hair for the first time was called. Among the Russians at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. it existed only among some groups, but its widespread prevalence among Belarusians and Ukrainians indicates that it once played an important role. Haircuts were performed when the child turned one year old. He was seated on a sheepskin, fur-side up, or something that determined his gender; basically, these were the same items that were used to cut the umbilical cord. The hair was removed by the midwife or godparents or father. First, the cross was cut, and then the remaining hair was cut. Then they put a new shirt on the child, a cross and a belt. As we see, this ritual featured the same objects as during baptism, testifying to the child’s belonging to the world of culture and to the Christian faith.

It is no coincidence that the ritual of tonsure took place on the anniversary. It is at this age that the individual develops purely human qualities - upright walking and speech; until then he is not much different from an animal. It is no coincidence that the main action of this ritual is tonsure. Hairiness, uncutness is a sign of nature: hairy goblins, mermaids, brownies, hairy people who, due to their status, are outside the “normal” group - sorcerers, shepherds, beggars, removal of hair is a sign of culture, belonging to the world of people.