Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Birth rituals
(976 words)

1. Rituals during childbirth

Childbirth was an event at once physical, emotional, and symbolic, and it also constituted an interaction of great significance among women. In early modern Europe, it was an occasion not just for practical help, but also for the identification, thematization, and cultural modeling of meanings, for instance of life and death, happiness and distress, joy and pain, being and becoming human. Into the early 20th century, n…

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Labouvie, Eva, “Birth rituals”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_019667>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160907



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