Impurity after childbirth is the concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time after childbirth, requiring ritual purification. Practices vary, but typically there are limits around what she can touch, who she can interact with, where she can go, and what tasks she can do. Some practices related to impurity after childbirth, such as seclusion, overlap with the more general practice of postpartum confinement.
The Ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus compared the impurity of childbirth to the impurity of death. [1] The entire household, all those who assisted at the birth, and the new baby incurred this impurity; this most likely ended with the ritual washing of hands at the amphidromia , five to seven days later. [1] [2] [3] The mother's purification may also have occurred then, [1] or she may have remained heavily polluted until the dekate , ten days after giving birth. [3] A period of lighter pollution followed, during which the new mother remained confined to her home and was especially banned from entering sacred spaces. [2] After forty days, she left her home, made a sacrifice to the gods (possibly a dog to Hekate), and was considered clean again. [3]
Not much is known about postpartum impurity in Ancient Rome. Festus, in his De verborum significatione , describes a ritual purification of newborn girls on the eighth day after birth and boys on the ninth day. Augustine of Hippo mentions a tradition of sweeping the threshold after a birth, a purification rite also practiced by the Romans after a death in the household. Along with customs such as decorating the door with laurel branches and lighting a candle to Candelifera, these purification rites may have indicated a belief in postpartum impurity. However, such impurity does not seem to have extended to the household as a whole: the father of a newborn could enter temples, and visitors were welcomed after a birth. [2]
In traditional Hindu practice, a woman who is in labor or has recently given birth (a jachcha) is considered impure, a state called sutak. [4] [5] [6] Based on passages from the Aitareya Brahmana, anthropologist Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi infers that this practice dates back to the Vedic era. Pandurang Vaman Kane theorizes that it most likely originated with the indigenous Harappan culture, rather than with the invading Indo-Aryans. [7] Like many Hindu purity practices, the impurity after childbirth has been decreasingly observed since the 19th century; many modern Hindus observe a shortened period of impurity, welcome visitors after the birth of a child, and are willing to touch the new mother and baby. [8]
Traditionally, the puerperal impurity is attributed to nine months of menstrual blood accumulated during the pregnancy, and thought to be more severe than even the impurity associated with death. [4] [5] [9] Women are therefore expected to give birth in a secluded location, in order to confine the impurity. Depending on the local tradition and the family's resources, this may be a dedicated hut (atur-ghar or sutikagara), a repurposed shed or outhouse, or simply an unused room of the house. [4] [10] [11] The traditional midwife (dai), often belonging to the dalit caste, is considered impure by association. [4] [12] She is especially responsible for those tasks which are considered impure, such as cutting the umbilical cord, touching the genitals of the woman in labor, and bathing the mother and child. [4] [5] [9] [13]
The new mother remains heavily impure for three days after the birth. During this Sor period, she remains secluded from the family, attended by the dai. [4] The new baby's father and his household are also considered impure during this period, regardless of where the birth occurred. [4] [6] The newborn may be considered to share the mother's state of heavy impurity, or to be too young to be impure. [4] [10] On the third day, the jai bathes and anoints the mother and child, bringing them to a state of lesser impurity. [4] The mother's bangles and all the clay pots in the household are broken; the clothes worn during labor, the bedding, and the receiving blanket are disposed of; dirt floors are refinished; and the tool used to cut the umbilical cord is purified. [4] [7] [13] Other members of the household also bathe, returning them to a state of purity. [4]
After the end of the Sor period, the new mother can rejoin her household, but remains in her state of lesser impurity for about forty days after the birth. [4] She traditionally remains confined to the house for this period, and while she may resume many of her ordinary household tasks, she continues to avoid cooking, grinding flour, and touching water. [4] [5] She may be expected to avoid various foods, such as buttermilk and curds. [7] Another woman may share her bed in order to ensure that the husband does not engage in sexual intercourse with the new mother, which is held to be harmful to him. [4] Due to the continued impurity, the household does not accept visitors during this period; hijras, however, are welcomed, and may be paid to bless the new baby. [6] All members of the household avoid temples and auspicious events, and the new mother may not engage in worship or touch holy images. [4] [6]
The exact span of the period of lesser impurity varies according to local custom; it may depend on the sex of the infant or the caste of the mother, or the end date may be set by a Brahmin. [4] [7] [10] [11] Towards the end of this time, the new mother may participate in a ritual touching of earthenware, marking the point at which she is allowed to handle pots and enter the kitchen. [7] At the end of the period of impurity, the woman bathes, her clothes and bedding are washed, and some women engage in a "well worship" (Daghar Puja) ritual. [4] [11] After this, she and her household are considered clean, and can return to their normal activities. [4]
Many indigenous people of New Guinea observe various forms of postpartum impurity, although some anthropologists argue that this is best understood, not as pollution, but as a dangerous proximity to the sacred. Women in these tribes typically give birth in dedicated huts at some distance from the village, alone or with female attendants; lochia, like menstrual blood, is thought to be dangerous to men. [14]
The Kaulong, along with the nearby Sengseng, observe some of the most intense known practices regarding female impurity. [15] [16] Among these practices is the belief that, during childbirth, women spread pollution horizontally in all directions. Kaulong women therefore give birth in a remote location wearing disposable clothing, which they destroy before returning to the village. [17] Similar practices are observed among peoples including the Murik, [18] the Gadsup, [19] the Mae Enga, [20] and the Wogeo. [21]
In Tanzania, Bena women are considered impure after childbirth, and for this reason commonly delay breastfeeding for one to two days until uterine involution occurs. The new mother remains secluded afterwards for up to three months, usually in a dedicated room of the house, and avoids cooking or serving food. During this period, she bathes and washes her clothes frequently, and other people avoid contact with her and her children. Kumlehedzya umwana, the cleansing ritual which marks the end of the period of seclusion, involves traditional herbs (mugoda or mafikho) given to all members of the household. [22]
Among the Swahili people of Pemba Island, women are considered impure until the discharge of lochia ends, usually about 40 days after birth. During this period, the new mother is expected to remain secluded and avoid praying, preparing food, and having sex or sharing a bed with her husband. Especially for a first birth, a Swahili woman often observes this period of seclusion at her parents' house. A special diet is prescribed for her, including some foods (special teas, octopus, squid, wrasse, cassava, chicken, rice, and cornmeal) and excluding others (eel, mandazi, meat, beans, and bananas). After her bleeding stops, she cleanses herself with a ritual bath of herb-infused water. [23]
According to Leviticus 12, a woman who gives birth to a son remains impure for a week, and afterwards immerses in a body of water to purify herself. In the rabbinical interpretation of Leviticus 12, any subsequent blood she sees over the next 33 days would be considered dam tohar (דַּם טׂוהַר – ritually clean blood), and that blood does not prohibit her from sexual relations with her husband. The law for a woman who gives birth to a daughter is the same, however, the durations are doubled. The mother becomes impure for 2 weeks, and after immersion, any blood she sees over the next 66 days is dam tohar.
There is no scholarly consensus for the Biblical law, including the difference between the birth of sons and daughters. Tikva Frymer-Kensky suggested that "like the person who touched death, the person who has experienced birth has been at the boundaries of life/non-life...." [24]
Other rationales include moments of crisis or danger, fear of demons, health, and a lack of wholeness. [25] [26]
Within the realm of Biblical law and post-Biblical Jewish religious discourse surrounding tumah and taharah, the impurity is called in Hebrew tumat yoledet. Halakhah treats a yoledet (woman who gives birth) similarly to any woman with niddah status.
In some Jewish communities, ceremonies and a degree of seclusion were applied to postparturient women. For example, there was a Sana Yemenite custom of women visiting the mother during 4–6 weeks after childbirth. The mother would be visited in a special room in her home and she would sit in a decorated triangle box. [27]
Some early churches followed the Jewish custom of restricting women from worship after giving birth until the purification ceremony. [28] [29] Today, many Christians commemorate Candlemas, the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary. Some continue to celebrate a Churching of Women ceremony, derived from the Jewish tradition but not necessarily implicating ritual impurity. [30] [31]
Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of uncleanliness, especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may also apply to objects and places. Ritual uncleanliness is not identical with ordinary physical impurity, such as dirt stains; nevertheless, body fluids are generally considered ritually unclean.
The postpartum period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to last for six weeks. There are three distinct phases of the postnatal period; the acute phase, lasting for six to twelve hours after birth; the subacute phase, lasting six weeks; and the delayed phase, lasting up to six months. During the delayed phase, some changes to the genitourinary system take much longer to resolve and may result in conditions such as urinary incontinence. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the postnatal period as the most critical and yet the most neglected phase in the lives of mothers and babies; most maternal and newborn deaths occur during this period.
Mikveh or mikvah is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity.
A niddah, in traditional Judaism, is a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh.
In Judaism, ritual washing, or ablution, takes two main forms. Tevilah (טְבִילָה) is a full body immersion in a mikveh, and netilat yadayim is the washing of the hands with a cup.
Tzaraath, variously transcribed into English and frequently translated as leprosy, is a term used in the Bible to describe various ritually impure disfigurative conditions of the human skin, clothing, and houses. Skin tzaraath generally involves patches that are white and contain unusually colored hair. Clothing and house tzaraath consists of a reddish or greenish discoloration.
In Christian tradition the churching of women, also known as thanksgiving for the birth or adoption of a child, 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.
Tazria, Thazria, Thazri'a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria' is the 27th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. The parashah is made up of 3,667 Hebrew letters, 1,010 Hebrew words, 67 verses, and 128 lines in a Torah Scroll.
In Jewish religious law, ṭum'ah and ṭaharah are the state of being ritually "impure" and "pure", respectively. The Hebrew noun ṭum'ah, meaning "impurity", describes a state of ritual impurity. A person or object which contracts ṭum'ah is said to be ṭamé, and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and uses until undergoing predefined purification actions that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.
In Jewish ritual law, a zav is a man who has had abnormal seminal discharge from the male sexual organ, and thus entered a state of ritual impurity. A woman who has had similar abnormal discharge from her genitals is known as a zavah.
Lying-in is the term given to the European forms of postpartum confinement, the traditional practice involving long bed rest before and after giving birth. The term and the practice it describes are old-fashioned or archaic, but lying-in used to be considered an essential component of the postpartum period, even if there were no medical complications during childbirth.
In the Hebrew Bible, the ordeal of the bitter water was a Jewish trial by ordeal administered by a priest in the tabernacle to a wife whose husband suspected her of adultery, but the husband had no witnesses to make a formal case. It is described in the Book of Numbers.
Keri is a Hebrew term which literally means "accident" or "mishap", and is used as a euphemism for seminal emission. The term is generally used in Jewish law to refer specifically to the regulations and rituals concerning the emission of semen, whether by nocturnal emission, or by sexual activity. A man is said to be a ba'al keri after he has ejaculated without yet completing the associated purification requirements.
In Jewish ritual law, a zavah is a woman who has had vaginal blood discharges not during the usually anticipated menstrual cycle, and thus entered a state of ritual impurity. The equivalent impurity that can be contracted by males, by experiencing an abnormal discharge from their genitals, is known as the impurity of a zav.
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community.
Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
Rabbi Zeira's stringency or the stringency of the daughters of Israel relates to the law of niddah and refers to the stringency expounded in the Talmud where all menstruant women, at the conclusion of their menstrual flow, were to count seven days of cleanness, just as women would do who suffered an "irregular flow" as defined in Jewish law.
Postpartum confinement is a traditional practice following childbirth. Those who follow these customs typically begin immediately after the birth, and the seclusion or special treatment lasts for a culturally variable length: typically for one month or 30 days, 26 days, up to 40 days, two months, or 100 days. This postnatal recuperation can include care practices in regards of "traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscriptions." The practice used to be known as "lying-in", which, as the term suggests, centres on bed rest. In some cultures, it may be connected to taboos concerning impurity after childbirth.
This article provides a background on Nepal as a whole, with a focus on the nation's childbearing and birthing practices. While modern Western medicine has disseminated across the country to varying degrees, different regions in Nepal continue to practice obstetric and newborn care according to traditional beliefs, attitudes, and customs.
Birth as an American Rite of Passage is a book written by Robbie Davis-Floyd and published in 1992. It combines anthropology and first-hand accounts from mothers and doctors into a critical analysis of childbirth in America from a feminist perspective.
A menstruation hut is a place of seclusion or isolation used by certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos. The same or a similar structure may be used for childbirth and postpartum confinement, based on beliefs around ritual impurity. These huts are usually built near the family home, have small doors, and are often dilapidated, with poor sanitation and ventilation, and no windows. The Nepali version, the Chhaupadi, is probably the best-known example, but cultural attitudes towards menstruation around the world mean that these huts exist, or existed until recently, in other places as well. The use of menstrual huts continues to be a cause of death, from exposure, dehydration, snake bite, smoke inhalation, and so on. The use of these huts is illegal in some places.