Attitude towards pregnancy in Russia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the north, with cold, long winters and short summers, only a large community could survive. Therefore, the life and health of every newborn child - the future full-fledged worker and breadwinner - were highly valued. It is in connection with the desire to survive, and therefore to preserve the size of the community and the health of all its members, that a great deal of care for pregnant women and children is connected.

One of the consequences of this concern was the fact that women did not give birth to children every year, but once every two or three years, which made it possible for a newly born baby to come out properly. Another consequence of caring for descendants was the large number of northern families, which made it possible to organize constant babysitting, and therefore to prevent all possible domestic misfortunes.

Procreation has always been the most pressing problem for the small northern tribes. First of all, the simplest and most natural means were used for survival, but if they did not help, then they resorted to the help and patronage of the other world. It was believed that there was some other, or otherworldly, world inhabited by omnipotent entities. He is in constant contact with the material world where people live, and can both help and harm them.

It was believed that only the gods were always supportive of people - the patrons of the clan, on whom the prosperous future of new generations of children and grandchildren depended. At the same time, the possibility of anger and discontent on their part was not excluded if people were guilty of something in front of them or did not show them due respect. The anger of these gods promised many troubles and misfortunes for the whole community of relatives. Therefore, our ancestors singled them out especially from the galaxy of numerous deities and sought to maintain their good disposition by various available means.

Before the advent of Christianity in the pantheon of Slavic Gods - the guardians of the clan, the following were especially revered:

Clan - God, patronizing the continuation of the clan, family, marriage, childbirth;

Women in labor - the Mother and Daughter goddesses who patronize brides, married, pregnant women and women who have given birth; helping a woman to become pregnant, safely bear, give birth to a child and grow it to adolescence. Later, the goddesses Rozhanitsy began to be called Lada (mother goddess) and Lelei (daughter goddess);

Ancestors-Progenitors - deceased relatives, endowed with magical power and power, who ensured the ancestral well-being of their descendants. The cult of the Ancestors-Progenitors transformed over time and found its continuation in the image of the brownie;

The brownie is the patron deity of the hearth and the family living in the house. No wonder, according to legend, the brownie-father lives behind the stove.

With the mixing of tribes, deities migrated from one culture to another. The historical process moved inexorably forward. The ancient gods, who were worshiped by the Slavic tribes, were replaced over time by new gods who came from Byzantium. But folk memory has preserved the images of ancient deities who helped our ancestors for so long. The memory of the goddesses Rozhanitsy, for example, was preserved by the folk women's costume in the form of embroideries depicting the Goddesses Lada and Lelia, which were made on the hem and shoulder of the shirts. These images have also survived in patterns on towels, valances and other household items. With the advent of Christianity, the image of the Mother of God became the successor of the Rozhanitsy goddesses.

Worship of the Family on calendar holidays

In ancient culture, it was considered a necessity to offer gifts and sacrifices to the Gods, whose protection was sought. Sacrifices in favor of the Family were considered an obligatory tribute of respect that must be paid to ancestors in order not to lose their patronage and help for themselves and their children. The belief in the need for a compulsory sacrifice in favor of the Family and Rozhanitsy has come down to our days in many everyday rituals and traditions, as well as in calendar holidays.

Until recently, the following holidays existed in the Russian agricultural calendar, which brought the memory of this:

January 8 - "babi porridge", a feast for honoring midwives, when the whole village was doing it to the midwife, that is. went to her with offerings. The grandmother fed all her vaccinated grandchildren and all her guests with sweet cool porridge with honey. The grandchildren and the entire male population of the village came to help the grandmother with the housework. On this day, all pregnant women and women who gave birth were congratulated and presented with gifts. It is noteworthy that "woman's porridge" is done the next day after the Nativity of Christ, which speaks of the great importance of this national holiday;

March 14 is the day of St. Eudokia or "Evdoshka", a holiday celebrating pregnant women and women who have given birth, an echo of the spring New Year that existed in antiquity, during which the forces of fertility were called upon to bring the coming agricultural season. Women who were pregnant and giving birth were considered the conductors of these forces and could endow the earth with them so that it would “give birth” like them. Therefore, on March 14, they were honored and presented with the sole purpose of appeasing and thereby ensuring a new harvest. It was this day that was considered a spring feminine, primordially Russian, holiday.

Ideas about the incarnation of the baby's soul in the mother's body

A pregnant woman, even in the quite foreseeable past, both in rural life and in an urban environment, was in a special position, since the great mystery of the incarnation of the soul into the body of a child was accomplished in her.

According to ancient ideas, all the souls of deceased ancestors live “in the next world,” that is, in the other world. According to the beliefs of the Slavs (which coincides with the ideas of other Indo-European peoples), the body is the essence of the soul's temporary dwelling, in which it lies at the birth or conception of a child, and which leaves at the death of a person. The soul is immortal and is involved in a circle of endless reincarnations. In this chain of birth and death, deceased ancestors are potentially descendants. The soul of a baby comes to the world of people from the dwelling of the ancestors when it decides to continue its earthly path. The fate, life span, hour of death and birth of a person is determined by the great universal law. Everything in the earthly and heavenly world is subject to this law; according to it, the circle of reincarnations of the human soul is accomplished.

Thus, a pregnant woman carrying a descendant - in the past of an ancestor, found herself on the border between two worlds: the world of people and the otherworldly supernatural world of souls.

Carrying out a connection between the worlds, being an expression of the universal law, a pregnant woman carries magical power in herself and is under the vigilant protection of the deified Ancestors-Progenitors. Therefore, to offend her meant to insult all ancestors and anger them. At the same time, insulting a pregnant woman, refusing her request, and disrespecting her meant harm to all descendants. All this could bring misfortune and misfortune to the abuser's house.

According to later concepts associated with the arrival of Christianity, when the belief in the Ancestors-Progenitors began to be forgotten and receded into the past, it was believed that through a pregnant woman God brings to earth from the spirit of man. In popular beliefs, she was considered a creature marked with God's sign, since there was a child in her - a sprout of new life, given by God. In her, the sacrament of reincarnation took place, when the spirit turns into a person from flesh and blood. Thus, a pregnant woman is a manifestation of divine providence, a link between the past and the future. Since the mother is an instrument for accomplishing a great divine miracle, it means that she herself becomes at this time the embodiment of supernatural forces, becomes a goddess in miniature - the Mother of God, the Mother of God, the Mother Ancestor.

Rules of conduct in relation to pregnant women

In the Russian countryside, there have long been established rules of behavior in relation to pregnant women, the sole purpose of which was to preserve the health of the mother and ensure the health of the child. They took shape under the influence of objective necessity and absorbed all the most rational. These rules were based on both purely everyday and religious and magical reasons.

Returning to everyday reasons, we remind the reader that the health of the mother and child was a necessary condition for the survival of the peoples of central Russia and the Russian north, leading a subsistence economy. But in order to survive here, a person had to have not only good health and endurance, but also a very calm, balanced character, excluding irritability, spitefulness, restlessness, scandalousness and stubbornness - in a word, everything that could threaten the possibility of survival. Many of these rules, as you will see below, are dictated by concern for the development of the necessary positive character traits in the unborn child. To achieve this goal, the slightest reasons for the development of his negative qualities were eliminated.

The irrational reasons for such a caring attitude towards a pregnant woman, as mentioned above, were based on the idea that the child she was carrying was a deified ancestor, whose anger was feared. At the same time, they feared that a reckless act towards her would harm all future generations of descendants. In addition, there was the idea that the souls of relatives can only incarnate within a kind, therefore each child in the womb was considered the soul of a relative incarnating into the body - grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandmother, etc. Every living person, after his death, could receive a new life in a new body from his grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Not wanting to harm their family, and therefore themselves, they always tried to treat a pregnant woman very respectfully and caringly. Not to mention the religious fear of God's wrath and the wrath of the dead, to whose community sooner or later everyone will join.

So, birth was considered one of the greatest mysteries of human life. Observant and savvy villagers knew that the well-being of a child is laid when he is in the womb. The health and happy fate of the unborn baby was directly related to the well-being of the mother. Therefore, in the traditional behavior and way of life, the rules and stereotypes of behavior in relation to a pregnant woman were enshrined in order to ensure the well-being of both her child and herself.

Caring for a pregnant woman in a rustic environment

The position of a pregnant woman largely depended on the wealth of the family, its mutual consent, the number of working hands, the personal qualities of the pregnant woman herself, and many other reasons. But the most widespread, if not to say the popular opinion was that the pregnant woman should be “taken care of”. We have already considered the religious and magical basis of this opinion at the very beginning of our story and it can be repeated briefly that the main thing was the desire not to harm the body and soul of the intrauterine baby.

As soon as the household began to suspect a woman that she was pregnant, everyone around her immediately softened: they ceased to reproach if she decided to “take a rest”, tried not to upset her, not to scold her, to protect her from hard work. They especially watched so that she did not "shake herself" and "was not hurt."If the pregnant woman, despite the persuasion, continued to work as before, the household, under some pretext, assigned her to some other business, where she would not get so tired.

The pregnant woman usually hid the fact of her pregnancy even from her own husband. Family *, and even neighbors, always played along with her in this and did not ask direct questions about her pregnancy and due date. Moreover, such questions were even feared, fearing suspicion of malicious intent regarding the pregnant woman. It was believed that only those who wish to damage her and the unborn baby could openly ask about this. Only her husband, her own mother and mother-in-law could ask a pregnant woman about the duration of pregnancy and childbirth, and then only when they were practically sure that she had suffered.

* Family - in everyday Russian, family was the name for those relatives who lived as one family within the house

The explicit and even deliberate concern of the household, from the moment when the pregnancy became noticeable, steadily increased as the birth approached and reached its highest point immediately before it. The closer it is to childbirth, the more insistently and categorically they took care of the pregnant woman, removed her from work associated with lifting weights and requiring tension and great physical effort. It even came to the point that the work on weight lifting was carried out by neighbors, not to mention the husband and family. In some cases, the pregnant woman was even given indulgence in community work, which was carried out by the entire community to ensure the public good.

They tried to create psychological comfort around the "belly woman" not only in the circle of her family, but also at the level of her village. Often curious neighbors ran to the pregnant woman to gossip, give some advice, help with the housework. It was considered obligatory, and certainly not superfluous, to bring her a present. In some areas, going to a pregnant woman's house empty-handed was considered indecent and could cause public condemnation. Childless women and young women of the first year of marriage came to her house with rich gifts in order to draw from her fertile strength.

All the wishes of the pregnant woman were fulfilled unquestioningly. All her oddities, disgust, whims were taken into account. If she wanted to eat or wear something special, they bought without talking. In other places, it was considered a sin to refuse her such a whim, especially if her requests were for food, because “the soul of a baby requires it”.

According to popular beliefs, if a pregnant woman asked for money, some thing or something edible and was refused, this could bring on the offender's house, if not her anger, then certainly the anger of her ancestors. And then soon a misfortune could happen in his house: mice or rats would gnaw all clothes, moths would eat all woolen things …

But if a person wanted, but could not fulfill the request of the pregnant woman, in order to avoid misfortune, after she left, he could throw sand, bread, a piece of clay or earth, coal or some kind of rubbish in her trail. True, they were careful not to do this, for fear of harming the child, because it was believed that in this case the newborn would eat clay, earth, etc. all his life.

It was also believed that if a pregnant woman’s request is denied, then she may become “tangled” (that is, the hair can get tangled so that it would be impossible to comb it, you can only cut it out).

They tried to protect a pregnant woman from fright or other nervous experiences and disorders. That is why they didn’t let her go to the forest alone, they didn’t allow her to watch the cattle being slaughtered, they protected her from quarrels, they tried not to irritate her so that the child’s character would not deteriorate.

These rules existed in popular life in the form of an unwritten law, the observance of which was monitored by every villager. Failure to comply with any of them could incur on the head of the offender not only the wrath of the ancestors, but also general condemnation. Some of them have already been mentioned above. Now let's combine them and present them in a more specific form:

1. You can not refuse a pregnant woman in her requests, whatever they may be, if she asks to buy something for herself.

2. It is necessary to satisfy all the desires and whims of a pregnant woman in food, to feed her with the best products. To deny a pregnant woman her desire to eat any product was considered an unforgivable sin.

3. You cannot bypass a pregnant woman with a gift for the holidays. If they went to visit a house where there is a pregnant woman, then they would definitely bring her a present or a gift, thereby making a small “sacrifice” to ensure their own well-being.

4. You cannot insult and scold a pregnant woman even for the eyes, arrange scandals or quarrels in her presence, scold and sort things out. Moreover, you shouldn't start a fight in her presence.

Traditionally, a pregnant woman was protected from quarrels, they tried not to irritate her, so that the child's character would not deteriorate.

5. A pregnant woman should be protected from everything terrible, make sure that she is not frightened, does not see anything ugly or ugly. Traditionally, it was believed that it must be protected from all fears and passions.

6. It is necessary to show the pregnant woman only beautiful, especially beautiful human faces, so that the future baby is beautiful and healthy.

7. A pregnant woman must be protected from heavy work, and if this cannot be done in full, then it is imperative to help her in their implementation. The pregnant woman has never performed work related to weight lifting; for her, running, jumping, sudden movements, pushing, pulling up and everything that could cause a concussion of her body and damage the child was completely excluded. For her, all situations were also excluded where there was a risk of falling and bruising, which could lead to injury or death of the intrauterine fetus, cause premature birth.

8. It is necessary to surround the pregnant woman with an atmosphere of benevolence and sensitivity, to show care and affection towards her. The refusal of a pregnant woman in affection and care was almost a sacrilege, because it was believed that this spoiled the character of the baby.

9. It is necessary to forgive the pregnant woman for all her oddities and indulge all her fantasies and strange desires. It was believed that in this way the soul of a child speaks in it.

10. Do not hold a grudge against her. If a pregnant woman asks for forgiveness, it was a sin not to forgive her. However, they always tried to prevent this situation and went to it themselves in order to settle the relationship. There was a custom of “forgiven days”, when all relatives 1-2 months before giving birth came to ask for forgiveness from the pregnant woman, and she, in turn, asked for forgiveness from them. Such rituals, when all voluntary and involuntary offenses were forgiven, could be repeated almost every week, since it was believed that an unforgiven, not removed from the soul offense could lead to misfortune during childbirth.

Nutrition for pregnant women in the folk tradition

In the Russian countryside, there was a system of natural nutrition with the obligatory observance of fasts that had long been established in our tradition. According to this system, nutrition of pregnant women was also carried out, but an "amendment" was made for them. It consisted, firstly, in the fact that pregnant women were never denied the use of milk and dairy products. Secondly, all the desires of a pregnant woman regarding food had to be fulfilled on demand, since it was rightly believed that "the soul of a baby requires it."

In wealthy and willing families, as a rule, the pregnant woman was additionally fed, giving her more nutritious food separately from others. It was often possible to see that she was transplanted to the children's table, where the diet was always much more nutritious, tastier and more varied than at the common table.

In addition, it must be said that chicken, unlike other poultry, was not considered meat food and could always be offered to a pregnant woman, even during Christian fasting.

Physical activity of a pregnant woman

For the successful gestation, it was considered important not only good nutrition, but also the physical fitness of the woman, which, moreover, played a very important role in the course and outcome of childbirth.

It has long been considered useful and always permissible for a pregnant woman to walk, turn, bend, squat and all kinds of movements from the "on all fours" position. According to village ideas, all these movements were safe and good for her, as they could bring relief in childbirth. Therefore, the "bellied woman" was sent to those works that were associated with these movements:

- harvesting, washing (tilting, turning);

- mopping (squatting, position on all fours);

- picking berries, mushrooms (walking, bending, turning, squatting);

- walking.

In modern conditions of life, we cannot, unfortunately, provide a woman with a sufficient amount of physical activity by the same means. But it is necessary at least to provide her with a sufficient duration of walking walks. Each person has a limited time, but a daily walk with the expectant mother for 1, 5–2 hours for the health of the baby, whose birth you are expecting one way or another, is not a big sacrifice.

If we add obligatory weekly country walks to the daily walking walks with the expectant mother, and also provide her with the opportunity to practice special gymnastics for pregnant women, then we can say that the conditions for carrying a child in this regard are close to ideal.