Бала туғаннан кейін аналарды баталау дәстүрі

Christian blessing for mothers after birth

In Christian tradition the churching of women, also known as thanksgiving for the birth or adoption of a child, is the ceremony wherein a blessing is given to mothers after recovery from childbirth. The ceremony includes thanksgiving for the woman's survival of childbirth, and is performed even when the child is stillborn, or has died unbaptized. Although the ceremony itself contains no elements of ritual purification, it was related to Jewish practice as noted in Leviticus 12:2 8 (KJV), where women were purified after giving birth. In light of the New Testament, the Christian ritual draws on the imagery and symbolism of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple
(Luke 2:22 40 (KJV)). Although some Christian traditions consider Mary to have borne Christ without incurring impurity, she went to the Temple in Jerusalem to fulfil the requirements of the Law of Moses. The rite is first mentioned in pseudo Nicene Arabic canon law. The Christian rite for the churching of women continues in Eastern Christianity, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion and the Methodist Churches; but in the Roman Rite it is found only in the pre Vatican II form and in Anglican Ordinariate parishes.

The custom of blessing a woman after childbirth recalls the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary mentioned in Luke 2:22. The Jewish practice was based on Leviticus 12:1 8, which specified the ceremonial rite to be performed in order to restore ritual purity. It was believed that a woman becomes ritually unclean by giving birth owing to the presence of blood and/or other fluids at birth. This was part of ceremonial rather than moral law. Natalie Knödel noted that the idea that a woman who has recently given birth is to be set apart and then reintroduced into religious and social life by means of a special rite is not a specifically Western, let alone Christian, idea. Such rites are found in a number of cultures. All things having to do with birth and death are understood as somehow sacred. Paul V. Marshall suggests that in an agricultural society this could have been a simple means of protecting a new mother from resuming work too soon after giving birth. Enforced rest after childbirth is known as postpartum confinement. Historically, European women were confined to their beds or their homes for extensive periods after giving birth in a custom called lying in; care was provided either by her female relatives (mother or mother in law) or by a temporary attendant known as a monthly nurse. "Churching" served to mark the end of these weeks of separation and reintegrate the new mother into her community. The rite became the subject of a good deal of misunderstanding, since many commentators and preachers, in describing its scriptural antecedents, did not explain the concept clearly. Pope Gregory I as early as the 6th century protested against any notion that defilement was incurred by childbirth and recommended that women should never be separated from the church in case it was seen as such. As a blessing given to mothers after recovery from childbirth, "it is not a precept, but a pious and praiseworthy custom, dating from the early Christian ages". David Cressy points out that the ceremony acknowledged the woman's labours and the perils of childbirth. At the conclusion of a month after childbirth, women looked forward to churching as a social occasion, and a time to celebrate with friends. For men it marked the end of a month during which they had to take care of the domestic affairs, commonly referred to as the "gander month". In thirteenth century France the rite focused on the woman's role as wife and mother. The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, an American Roman Catholic gathering held in October 1866, noted that churching after childbirth had been generally neglected in the United States and was to be insisted upon, and prohibited the practice of churching in places in which Mass is not celebrated. The official title of the Rite was actually Benedictio mulieris post partum (the blessing of a woman after giving birth), and focused on blessing and thanksgiving. The rite largely fell into disuse in the late 1960s following the Second Vatican Council, but a number of traditional Catholic women still undergo the rite. The Book of Blessings published in 1984 contains a "Blessing of a Woman after Childbirth" that is significantly altered from the old rite used before the Council, but fulfills the same liturgical purpose. The current baptismal rite (which also incorporates a blessing of the father) contains a blessing for the mother, but the older rite is a special blessing.

The rite of the churching of women, officially known as the "An Order of Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child", continues to be offered in Methodist churches. It was formerly regarded as unwise for a woman to leave her house to go out at all after confinement until she went to be churched. In Anglo Irish folk tradition, new mothers who had yet to be churched were regarded as attractive to the fairies, and so in danger of being kidnapped by them. However, the origin of the church ritual is unrelated to these later local superstitions, which accrued to it.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite, many jurisdictions still observe the tradition of the woman coming to church on the 40th day after childbirth for special blessings. For forty days a new mother remains at home to recuperate and to care for her child. However, if the child has not survived, the woman still remains at home to heal physically and emotionally. During the time of her confinement, the woman does not normally receive the eucharist, unless she is in danger of death. As the service is practiced in the Byzantine Rite, it involves both the blessing of the mother and the presentation of the child to God. The churching should be distinguished from two other brief rites that take place at childbirth: the Prayers on the First Day After Childbirth, and the Naming of the Child on the Eighth Day. These usually take place in the home. In some traditions, it is customary to baptize the child on the eighth day, following the example of the Old Testament rite of bris or circumcision of boys. In that case, the naming of the child would take place in the temple (church building); however, the mother would not attend, the child being presented by its godparents.

On the fortieth day after childbirth, the mother is brought to the temple to be churched; that is to say, to receive a blessing as she begins attending church and receiving the sacraments once again. The child (if it has survived) is brought by the mother, who has already been cleansed and washed, accompanied by the intended sponsors (Godparents) who will stand at the child's baptism. They all stand together in the narthex before the doors of the nave, facing east. The priest blesses them and says prayers for the woman and the child, giving thanks for their wellbeing and asking God's grace and blessings upon them.

Then, if the infant has already been baptized, he performs the churching of the child; if not, he does the churching immediately after the baptism. Taking up the child, the priest lifts it up, making the sign of the cross with the child before the doors of the temple, saying: "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." He then carries the child into the center of the nave, as he says, "I will go into Thy House. I will worship toward Thy Holy Temple in fear of Thee." Stopping in the center, he says, "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the midst of the congregation I will sing praises unto Thee." He then walks up to the iconostasis, and stopping in front of the royal doors, he says, "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." He then carries the baby into the sanctuary and around the back of the altar and out again onto the soleas. He then chants the Nunc dimittis and says a special apolysis (dismissal), after which he blesses the child with the Sign of the Cross on its forehead, mouth and heart, and returns it to its mother.