The birth event in ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt procreating was an important goal, the joy of every couple, the seal of a happy union, especially when a male was born, heir to the throne as pharaoh.
The period of pregnancy, then as now, was handled by the woman with gentleness and responsibility: she prepared for the happy and expected event by feeding herself in a healthy way, anointing her belly with oil to keep her skin soft and supple, and only at the time of labor did she go to a building, called in Coptic "Mammisi," meaning "Place of Birth," attached to the temple, where the rite of birth was performed, accompanied by experienced family women, and a midwife.
In hieroglyphic the verb "to give birth" is "months", and the ideogram is represented by a squatting woman with a child being born. In fact, Egyptian women gave birth squatting with their feet resting on bricks or sitting on perforated chairs, positions that proved to be of great help in the birth of the baby, while the midwife, kneeling, was ready to take the infant. No doctors were present since childbirth was considered a natural and private event, nor were surgical instruments used except for an obsidian knife to cut the umbilical cord.
Childbirth, often dreaded because of the high risk of mortality for both mother and unborn child, was accompanied by rituals, magical formulas and invocations to the gods to make them relieve the pain of labor, and by averting omen to ward off possible complications. In the New Kingdom such averts were written on papyrus and placed in a small box that was tied around the neck of the unborn child to protect him or her, as if it were an amulet.
The goddess Tueret, depicted with the body of a hippopotamus, the paws of a lion, the tail of a crocodile, the arms and chest of a human, and the head of a woman or hippopotamus, was the one who protected the woman during pregnancy, along with the god Bes, a grotesque-looking dwarf, often depicted with a crown of feathers, a lion's mane and armed with a knife in the act of warding off evil spirits and protecting women in childbirth, while the goddess Heqet was the divine midwife of Ancient Egypt, the protector of new life, the one who was thought to shape the baby during gestation and was represented as a frog, or a woman with a frog's head. This is because frogs had existed since the beginning of civilization, procreating by the thousands in the waters of the Nile, and for the Egyptians, life was born from the primordial waters. By similarity the child, being born from the broken waters in the womb, was associated with frogs emerging from the water. Even women during pregnancy wore amulets and scarabs engraved with depictions of frogs-a way of securing sacred protection by placing themselves under her tutelage of the goddess Heqet. All midwives were thus called "servants of Heqet" in honor of their task of dispensing life.
As soon as birth occurred, the first wailing was anxiously awaited: if it had a sound similar to the word "no," it was an omen of death; if, on the other hand, it recalled the sound "yes," it meant that the infant would live. And after giving birth, the woman would perform a purification ritual for about 14 days before resuming life in the community.
There are sources that document for us the rituals on the occasion of the birth of a child: e.g., in the Westcar Papyrus written in the Middle Kingdom, the narrative "Cheops and the Magi" speaks of the birth of Queen Redgedet who gave birth to three kings of the Fifth Dynasty, future dethroners of Cheops' family. It is narrated that assisted in childbirth by the goddesses Nephthys, Isis and Heqet, Queen Redgedet wore clothes inside out as an allusion to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, and when the child was born the deities said, "Here is the king who will exercise sovereignty over this whole country". Also present were seven deities who in the appearance of maidens foretold the unborn child's future.
We also know that in Ancient Egypt infertility was experienced as a great misfortune, a divine punishment almost, to be exorcised through magic, as opposed to procreation, which was a divine gift. And when women could not have children, the husband could divorce or take a second wife.
So the event of birth was considered, then as now, a unique experience, the greatest and indispensable joy.
