Baby shortening!!!

[Margaret Pilkington]

I have just spoken to Ma and she has confirmed all of what I said.......and that the long clothes were to prevent the devil from getting the baby's soul(that was the superstition of the time)....she also said that if you hadn't been churched then some local women would not speak to you or acknowledge you in any way.

[Parrot24]

Thanks again for all your information it has been very helpful

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I have just spoken to Ma and she has confirmed all of what I said.......and that the long clothes were to prevent the devil from getting the baby's soul(that was the superstition of the time)....she also said that if you hadn't been churched then some local women would not speak to you or acknowledge you in any way.

As I said, fear, induced by religious superstition, formulated to keep the masses subserviant to the church.
Retlaw

[garinda]

Might be nowt to do with priests, original sin, and swaddling clothes.

Your mum could have feared you were going to be called Beanpole.

Or, if it was only the one leg, Hopalong.

Limb shortening for the management of leg length discrepancy

[JCB]

The Churching of mothers was quite common in the Catholic Church during my younger days . It was a simple ceremony when the mother gave thanks for the birth of her child on her first visit to the church after the birth .

As far as I know the practice has died out . I can recall a priest in a local Catholic parish in the late 1950s refusing to allow the ceremony because of the superstition surrounding it .

[jedimaster]

i believe it was also at these ceremonies (certainly in very old churches) that the devil,was cast out from the child and it was the job of the nominated godparents to slam the 'devil's doorway' closed, so the devil could never return. there are not many of these churches left, in fact the only one i know of that remains is in york. (however sadly it is no longer a church but a storeroom for york city council junk)

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by JCB

The Churching of mothers was quite common in the Catholic Church during my younger days . It was a simple ceremony when the mother gave thanks for the birth of her child on her first visit to the church after the birth .

As far as I know the practice has died out . I can recall a priest in a local Catholic parish in the late 1950s refusing to allow the ceremony because of the superstition surrounding it .

Yes that is what our vicar told me, but the common view, the one held by the people, was that it was to cleanse the woman of the stain of original sin........and as I said in a previous post women who had given birth and had not been 'churched' were not made welcome at social gatherings....and would be shunned by those who felt themselves to be devout Christians.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Yes that is what our vicar told me, but the common view, the one held by the people, was that it was to cleanse the woman of the stain of original sin........and as I said in a previous post women who had given birth and had not been 'churched' were not made welcome at social gatherings....and would be shunned by those who felt themselves to be devout Christians.

They probably packed in wi it cos it didn't work?

[MargaretR]

As a result of this thread I have a song jingle torturing me today -

"Mammas little baby loves shortnin, shortnin. Mammas little baby loves shortnin bread."
I found it featured on youtube but decided not to inflict it on you.

[Parrot24]

Ha Ha MargaretR....I've had the same so annoying , sorry .