Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: shaman@cix.compulink.co.uk (Leo Smith)
Subject: The Fates and childbirth
Reply-To: shaman@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:56:00 +0000

This is cribbed shamelessly from a UK BBS

I thought it might interest you. No comments to me - I don't
subscribe to alt.pagan anymore so use E-mail if you want to contact!

enjoy
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  The appearance of the Fates at the birth of the child is celebrated in
  both myth and ritual with a tremendous agreement as to detail.  One
  of the first appearances of this theme is in the Greek story of  
  Meleager, son of Althaea. 

      Meleager's mother was Althaea, the first wife of Oeneus. 
      When he was seven days old the Fates appeared to his
      mother.  Clotho predicted for the child great generosity;
      Lachesis, extraordinary strength; Atropos declared that he
      would live only so long as a certain brand which was
      burning on the hearth continued to exist.  Althaea
      hastened to rescue the brand, extinguished it and put it in
      a place of safety. 
 
  There is a Scandanavian counterpart to this tale in the legend of  
  Nornagest.  In this the Norns visit the home to bless the child  
  Nornagest with skill, fame and long-life but declare that he will only  
  live until the candle over his cradle burns out.  The eldest of the Norns
  instantly put out the candle and gave it to the mother of Nornagest for
  safekeeping.  

  One element which is seldom given sufficient emphasis in the myth and
  folktale accounts is the fact that the Fates are actively welcomed into
  the home during the first week of the birth.  The actual night of the  
  birth-fate ceremony varies from culture to culture, sometimes it is the  
  third, the sixth or the seventh night after the birth as these example  
  from Greece, Serbia, Karpathos, Brittany, India and Germany will  
  show:

      The occasion on which the Fates have most often been
      seen by human eyes and on which, even though invisible,
      they never fail to be present, it is the third night (or as
      some say the fifth night) after the birth of a child. 
      Provision for their arrival is then scrupulously made.  The
      dog is chained up.  Any obstacles over which the visitors
      might trip in the darkness are removed.  The house-door
      is left open or at any rate unlatched. Inside a light is kept
      burning, and in the middle of the room is set a low table
      with three cushions or low stools placed round it -
      religious conservatism apparently forbidding the use of so
      modern an invention as chairs, for at the lying-in-state
      before a funeral also cushions or low stools provided for
      the mourners.  On the table are set out such dainties as
      the Fates love, including always honey; in Athens formerly
      the essentials were a dish of honey, three white almonds,
      a loaf of bread and a glass of water and ready to hand, as
      presents from which the goddesses may choose what they
      will, may be laid all the most costly treasures of the
      family, such as jewellery and even money, in token that
      nothing has been spared to give them welcome.  These
      preparations made, their visit is awaited in solemn silence;
      for none must speak when the Fates draw near.  Most
      often they are neither seen nor heard; but sometimes, it
      is said, a wakeful mother has seen their forms as they
      bent over her child and wrote their decrees on its brow -
      for which reason moles and other marks on the forehead
      or the nose are in some places called ... 'writings of the
      Fates'; sometimes she has heard the low sound of their
      voices as they consulted together over the future of the
      child ... 

  On the isle of Karpathos, the offerings to the Fates are preceded by a
  ritual which contains a mixture of pagan and Christian imagery:

      In Greece the Three Fates are believed to visit the child
      three days after birth, at midnight, and decide its destiny -
      another relic of pagan belief.  To welcome and propitiate
      them a feast is provided.  In Karpathos the ceremony is
      very elaborate.  The child is placed, stark naked, on a
      pile of its father's clothes in the wooden bowl from which
      the family eat on feast-days.  This stands in the center of
      the room and around it seven jars containing honey.  In
      every one stands a long candle specially made for the
      occasion.  The priest blesses the candles, and they are
      named after various saints.  They are then lighted, and
      the extinction of one of them is awaited in silence.  The
      first to go out indicates the saint who is to be the child's
      protector.  In the evening, guest assemble round the bowl
      to eat from it a confection of flour, water, honey and
      butter.  When they disperse the bowl is again filled with
      the same mixture and left all night for the enjoyment of
      the Fates, who are invoked to come and bless the child. 
      The destiny is supposed to be written by the Fates on its
      nose or forehead. 

  The naming of the child by the saints replaced the older tradition of the   
  naming of the child by the Fates.  The giving of names and the fixing   
  of destinies were closely connected in ancient belief. 

      In Chinese ming 'destiny' is the same word as ming
      'name'.  In Greece names were bestowed by the Moirai. 

  In myth, the name given to a divine or heroic child is often connected
  with a prophecy uttered before the birth.  This familiar theme recurs
  several times in the Bible.