Welcome to our newest addition to the blog - Historical Tidbit Thursdays!
Women gave birth in an isolated birthing lodge with the help of a medicine woman and 1-2 assistants. 2 pits were dug into the floor - one for heated water and one for the afterbirth. Hot rocks were placed against a woman's back to help with the pain. If the birth was especially difficult, a medicine man would be called in to help. No other man could enter the birthing lodge. The woman recovered for 10 days before returning to her chores.
For its first few days, babies were swaddled in robes next to it mother. When it was time for her to leave, the baby was bathed and wrapped in rabbit skins then placed into a cradle board. The baby's father gave gifts to the baby's first visitor.
Soft, dry moss was stuffed into the board to catch the excrement. Every night, the baby was washed, greased and powdered.
After 9 or 10 months, a baby was allowed out of its cradle. When it wasn't scrambling on the ground, it was carried on the mother's back. Children were carried until they were old enough to ride a horse.
Source:
The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel; ISBN#978-0806120409
Picture Credit: By Birmingham Museum of Art, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16278379
No comments:
Post a Comment