Churching (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Thursday, July 16, 2009, 12:08 (5683 days ago) @ Jean Herbert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churching_of_women

In Christian tradition the Churching of Women is the ceremony
wherein a blessing is given to mothers after recovery from childbirth.
The ceremony includes thanksgiving for the woman's survival of childbirth,
and is performed even when the child is stillborn, or has died unbaptized.

It was formerly regarded as unwise for a woman to leave her
house to go out at all after confinement until she went to be churched.
In the UK and Ireland, new mothers who had yet to be churched were
regarded as attractive to the fairies, and so in danger of being kidnapped
by them. However, the origin of the church ritual is unrelated to these later
local superstitions, which accrued to it.

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>