It was a child wrapped tightly in bandages E-Book

Brigid Vastarte

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 41

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Have you also sometimes wondered why the "Jesus child" in the manger is often depicted wrapped in cloths and bandage like a mummy? Also the author asked herself this question and found out something amazing. This swaddling - also known as wrapping, fatschen or pucken - goes back several thousand years. In order to drive a wedge between mother and child, the babies were wrapped in bandages so tightly immediately after birth that they could no longer move freely. This cruel wrapping of newborns, in the early days of patriarchy, was recommended by doctors for a long time (e.g. in midwifery books), was still common in elite circles (nobles) up to the 19th century and now seems to be promoted again. The author thought it was time to inform people about the background, origin and damage to society. The book has numerous color pictures.

Leseprobe

The original German edition published under the title:Es war ein Kind eng in Bänder gewickelt

Translated from the German by the author herself.

Table of contents

How I came across this topic

Depiction of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus

The patriarchy - destruction of the mother-shaped society

Human Experiments - experiments on the babies

Cruel diaper practices to the 19th century - Fatschenkinder

Pucken - Swaddling Babies Today!

The consequences of suppression the mother-child relationship

The consequences for the whole society

How was it in the past and how do natural peoples do it?

Harmony between mother and child

Social ostracism of the maternal original state

Future - Where we should develop again

swaddled child in the “wrap bed” (Wickelbett), 1878 from Rittershain (1878)

How I came across this topic

I have always been a very interested woman. But especially in the last few years I have been researching the history of humanity a lot and have looked at numerous old paintings – also paintings/depictions of the Christian story of the virgin birth of Mary. It struck me again and again that the so-called “Child Jesus” is depicted wrapped in bandages like a mummy. I kept asking myself, why was the baby so "wrap up"? Was it only portrayed that way by the artists, or was it common practice at the time?

Depiction of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus

Most of us know this swaddled child from the depiction of the Christmas story - Mary with her baby Jesus, who lies in the manger. Hardly anyone thinks about why this baby is portrayed like a mummy - meaning unable to move. As is so often the case, we do not question many things that we constantly see and are familiar with. We mostly believe what we are told.

When I saw old paintings depicting 2 wrapped children, I became more and more curious. Was that really common back then? And why?

Fresco (detail) by Giotto di Bondone, Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi (Italy), 1310

Artist unknown, 15th century fresco, exterior view of the castle chapel in Montalto Dora Castle (Turin, Italy)

Aimone Duce, 15th century fresco, Chapel of Santa Maria della Stella, Macello (Province of Turin, Italy)

Fresco early 14th century in the Church of San Martino, Bolzano Novarese (Italy)

The patriarchy - destruction of the mother-shaped society

But how did this come about? For this we have to go back a few millennia and I can only briefly touch on this book-filling subject.

Before patriarchy came into being, most people on this earth lived in a peaceful, maternal society. Children grew up safe in their clan. There were neither wars, nor pressure to perform, nor possessions and therefore also no greed and envy. Everyone had the same amount and everyone was catered for. Mothers had a central position here - as those who give birth (out of there body) and feed them with their breasts (out of her body) - as creators of life - and also took care of the balance in the clan. They were highly respected, had enormous healing knowledge - even if many today try to deny all that.

But about 5000 years ago this changed. A group of men no longer wanted to accept this situation and gave the man a higher position. We need to understand that the bond between mother and child is "usually" so strong that it continues into adulthood. By the way, there are still many men today - even in countries where women have hardly any rights - who value and adore their mothers above all else.

The position that woman had for many thousands of years was suppressed and paternal rights were introduced and increasingly reinforced, while at the same time maternal rights were increasingly suppressed and abolished. Sometimes the whole thing went so far that the father could even beat his children at any time or even sell them into slavery. And even sons who were already grown were still under their father's authority - as long as he lived.