Birthing Ritual

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it unusual: when our daughter was born (1989), our midwife offered us the
placenta (this was a hospital/midwife-only birth). Placenta cooking
'parties' are associated with at one level, feminist and/or radical
feminist, lesbian practice, but lots of yuppie/middle class couples are
following in the trend.
10 years ago, women used to elect to take their placentas home "to
prevent the hospital from selling them to pharmeceutical companies". {no
comment as to whether the sales where actually taking place, or just
believed to be occurring}.
There is a scene in the British (BBC?) made for
T.V. film *Threads* [about the advent and aftermath of nuclear war] in
which a mother eats her placenta.
Heather Y-L

'Ofa ki Ha'ano 'i he ngaahi 'aho ni 'oe foki ki mui 'ae pa'anga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Evans, Anthropology &/ Heather Young-Leslie, Anthropology
McMaster University, Hamilton /or: York University, North York,
Ontario, Canada. L8S 4L9 Ontario, Canada. M3J 1P3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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