II.

Birth

Conception, gestation, and birth are ritually assisted by one or both parents, who might modify their dietary, sexual, and other habits in culturally designated ways. These measures might persist through a postpartum seclusion period for mother and infant, which culminates in some kind of public presentation and, often, naming of the new baby. The ceremony of baptism or christening is an example of a religious birth ritual practiced by many Christians that has endured throughout the ages. It marks the admission of a baby into the “community of Christ” and the church.