Swaddling Clothes

[Susie David]

In keeping with the season and the Navity Story.
How many folks actually know what swaddling clothes are?
Most will be surprized.
DMc

 

[angie2]

Wasn't it just strips of linen? Wrapped around the baby?

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Swaddling clothes or cloths were used to assure proper posture of the child and were wrapped in these with bandage type devices until the child was about a year old. ;-)

 

[Susie David]

In biblical times death was a certainity of daily life. When folks, speaking of the Jews, traveled they brought their burial clothes with them, just in case. Swaddling clothes were what the were "swaddled" in after death.
That is why swadddling clothes were important in the Navity Story, it showed the desperation of Mary and Joseph...not having any proper baby garments with them on the journey.

Just a tidbit that our pastor shared with the congreation and I thought that I'd pass along.
DMc

 

[chrisy]

Swaddle; Swaddling-band
..."Swaddle" has become the technical term for the wrapping of an infant in the Orient or elsewhere. The oriental swaddling-clothes consist of a square of cloth and two or more bandages. The child is laid on the cloth diagonally and the corners are folded over the feet and body and under the head, the bandages then being tied so as to hold the cloth in position. This device forms the clothing of the child until it is about a year old, and its omission would be a token that the child had been abandoned.