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From baba Julka to maternity house, from maternity house directly to the church

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2022

Abstract

The text From baba Julka to maternity house, from maternity house directly to the church is concerned with birth giving and customs associated with new-borns. The authors collected data in Kruščice and Češko Selo on customs associated with pregnancy, home births and puerperium that the ancestors of their informants had brought from the Czech lands to their new homeland.

The most important finding is the evidence of the traditional midwives and a recorded story of a midwife from Kruščice called baba Julka. The authors have also recorded memories of the Czech villagers associated with births and related customs that are disappearing, and the childbirth related terminology, in the context of religiosity and kinship dynamics.