step daughter had baby has to stay in for 5 days

anguk

balletshoes wrote: »

what does "see the vicar" mean?

Back in the "olden days" you were expected to go to church or see the Vicar after having a baby, it was called "churching". I remember my MIL telling me that she had to go to church to see the vicar before she was allowed to go out anywhere else, her mother-in-law refused to let her in her house until she'd been "Churched"!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churching_of_women
http://www.episcopalnet.org/1928bcp/churchingwomen.html

jackyann

There was a wonderful thread about this on gransnet awhile ago. It is interesting to see how much things have changed. I certainly thought it had died out by 1989, other than among very devout Christians.
What I find fascinating is that many cultures have some sort of ritual around secluding a woman who has just given birth. And even within any culture, opinion gets divided as to whether it is seen as a kindly, helpful thing to do, giving mum time to rest; or whether it is seen as misogynistic & about being "unclean".
Sorry - completely off-topic, but juliethemuse, I do hope the intervening years have been happier.