ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the Anglican rite of the ‘Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth commonly called the Churching of Women’. The ritual of churching was used by the Christian church as the rite of purifying women after childbirth. Although it was regarded as an act of thanksgiving, as an opportunity for the woman to receive a celebratory blessing, that characterization disguises the control that was exerted over parturient women and their midwives. This chapter discusses the place of notions of ‘uncleanness’ and ‘pollution’ within the postpartum experiences of women by exploring the relevance of churching for contemporary birth rituals. The churching of women had been in existence for hundreds of years before falling relatively rapidly into decline in the nineteenth century. There is a need to determine what insights such historical practices can provide for twenty-first-century perspectives on women’s bodies, maternal roles and birth rituals. Focusing on elements of the practice of the thanksgiving of women after childbirth provides an excellent tool for this purpose. The aim of the chapter is, first, to outline a short history of churching; second, to provide a thick description of the biblical narrative as found in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus chapter 12:1-8; and third, to discuss the possible relevance of the chapter content for contemporary birth rituals.
