Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
I have a very vague idea...in the back of my cranium that it was traditional to keep babies in long clothes(even boy babies wore dresses for a long time) until they Christened......A new mother was churched at six weeks after the birth...until then the mother was not really allowed out for social events.....churching seen as a cleansing event to rid the mother of the stain of original sin.......it is just that I can't recall hearing of a ceremony specifically to allow the babe into short nightwear/clothes.
Ma is 84.......will ask her if she can throw any light on the subject.
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My mother explained this 'Churching ceremony' to me. Soon after my birth she went to St Pauls Ossy to attend a sunday service and was refused entry because she had not been 'churched'.
She says she did not regard herself as 'unclean' and this prompted her to abandon religion.
I gave birth in the days before babygros. Long white cotton nighties over wool vests were the conventional wear for newborns of both sexes.
In my mother's generation, baby boys wore frocks until they were out of nappies - made nappy changing easier I suppose.