in their houses, cared for by others, and did not resume their housework or
leave their homes. In addition, this period after birth was characterized by a
shared fear of demons who could harm the newborn.
There were similarities in the institutional part of this process as well. In both
societies, the woman went to the place of worship on the day of rest. She wore
her best clothes and a special veil on her head, which was removed only after
the ritual. She brought the christening cloth or the wimpel with her to the cer-
emony and passed it on to her husband or to the priest. Furthermore, both Jew-
ish and Christian mothers appeared in public for the first time since birth. In
the case of boys in Judaism, and for both boys and girls in Christianity, the
women had already missed their children’s initiation ceremonies. Both rituals
were explained in similar ways. Jewish sources explain the Sabbath ritual as
providing a means of atonement for the vows the parturient took upon herself
during birth and as an expression of thanks. Christian sources mention atone-
ment, thanksgiving, and purification as reasons for the churching ceremony.
Birth Rituals and Their Social ContextThe Sabbath ritual for the parturient, and the similarities between it and the
Christian churching ritual, strengthen both the conclusions of the previous
chapter, as well as our reflections on the cross-cultural influences of customs
of the Hollekreisch and the Wachnacht. While the rituals discussed in the pre-
vious chapter, baptism and circumcision, like the synagogue and the church,
remained separate and contrasting symbols, the social functions and the cul-
tural values that were transmitted by these rituals are very much shared. The
less “official” rituals discussed in this chapter emphasize the shared nature of
these common social functions and cultural values. One of the key issues that
came up when discussing the circumcision ritual was that of women’s place in
medieval Jewish society. The Sabbath ritual for women after birth furthers our
possibilities for a better understanding of the construction of gender relations
in medieval and early modern Jewish society. In the following interpretation,
I have profited greatly from scholars who have employed the churching ritual
as a key for understanding Christian society. The adaptation and discussion of
these scholars’ understandings of the churching process in the context of the
Jewish ritual supports some of these explanations.
Some scholars, such as Keith Thomas and others, have argued that church-
ing and the entire process undergone by women were deeply connected to be-
liefs in the impurity of women after giving birth. He believes that churching
demonstrates the strength of these beliefs and that the objections to churching
voiced in the early modern period are evidence of a gradual decline of the be-
lief in magic.^86 The importance attributed to Lilith and other demons in the
postpartum ritual, however, seems to belie this tendency.