Quote:
Originally Posted by Parrot24
Yes...that's it ...churched that what she said ...so it must have been 6 weeks not 3 months , and she did say it wasn't acceptable to visit people before this with a new born ..the clothes thing must just have been incidental .
Well thank you all for sorting this mystery out ... your help is much appreciated  |
A bit more digging produced this from Wikipedia so six weeks would have been about right...
The usual date of churching was the fortieth day after confinement (or giving birth), in accordance with the Biblical date and Jewish practice. Under Mosaic law as found in the Old Testament, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for thirty-three days "in the blood of her purification." This was reflected in the Presentation of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus at the Temple being commemorated forty days after Christmas.