THE MOST CULTURAL EVENT ON THE PLANET...EVER
Definition of CULTURAL:
1. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Terms) of or relating to artistic or social pursuits or events considered to be valuable or enlighten
2. (Sociology) of or relating to a culture or civilization
On November 1, 2012 I had the privilege of being present as my niece gave birth to her son. I have not had the gift of witnessing a live birth. According to the word cultural defined above, birthing is both valuable and enlightening. And all important, birthing is the one absolute dynamic which perpetuates are very civilization.
I am a post-modern feminist and I honor the feminine divine. I was training as a midwife at one point in my past. My pride in being a woman and for the power of the female cannot be overstated. Fertilization, in utero growing life, and bringing a baby out of the womb into our world I would argue is the ultimate of our existence as human beings.
Watching my niece give her all to accept her baby moving down the birth canal was profound. The pushing of assisting the baby exit her vagina was powerful. She did fabulous and the birth went smoothly overall. Although the baby wanted his hand to come out before his head, first the nurse, then the doctor had to manipulate little peanut's body so he could come out correctly. My niece didn't once look fearful or untrusting of her body and the support around her.
There may be a magical communion with all the ancients when birthing, a communion with the billions of women who have birthed children throughout all time. At one point in my labor, I felt the raw and primitive relationship shared between all women. The feeling is difficult to explain unless a woman opens herself vulnerably with the intention of entering a spiritual awareness of labor. (I do not having any living children, but did experience giving birth. So you don't have to ask or wonder...)
Why is giving birth a cultural event?
Cultural events are those which represent some creative or intellectual happening of value. Nothing could be more valuable than giving life to another human. The creative forces at work in creating and birthing another human is the highest order of creativity and art. The creation of a piece of "work" of the inner self outward into the physical world, I believe, is represented in the most powerful way when a woman gives birth.