Bundle of Joy
Morocco 1998: A Berber home in a small desert village.
Here is a swaddled baby. Didn’t you always wonder what ‘swaddled’ meant when you listened to the Bible story about the birth of Jesus? I can’t remember now how soon after the birth the women of the family swaddled this little girl but it was within 24 hours.
The young mother, who was about 16 years old, delivered at home with only those female family members who happened to be there to help her. Berber woman don’t make a fuss of having a baby. When they feel the birth is imminent, they go to the window, grab onto the shutters and squat. I doubt if there is any screaming like there was when I was having my babies.
The mother and the women of her generation didn’t know how to swaddle. The child’s grandmother and her friends took care of that. The baby was happy being swaddled. I never heard it cry. She lay contentedly beside her mother for the week of confinement as her mother received her friends who brought gifts. After the confinement, the family held a big celebration and the name of the child was announced to the whole village.
Are you wondering why the baby is being held upside down? I think it is done to make the baby grow tall. She was only held this way for a second or so and the baby didn’t mind a bit.