A Hopi Newborn Ritual

Hello Birth Peeps and Friends,
It's a lovely evening in New Mexico. I've been reading a well used, old book by Frank Waters, "Book of the Hopi" published in 1963 by Ballentine.

It is a rich account of the Hopi "Road of Life" willingly shared by some thirty Hopi elders who wanted to help Waters write about their way of life and ceremonies.

There is one bit piece about childbirth:

"Their birth too is associated with the east and with the sun. For twenty days after birth every newborn child is kept in darkness. Then at dawn he is carried to the east and held up to the rising sun, the mother saying, 'This is your child.'"

Pam