Postpartum Sealing Ceremonies: a cross-cultural rite of passage

Closing ceremonies found Across the Globe

Awareness of postpartum closing rituals around the world have been sprouting up within the birthing community in for a number of years now. Essentially, the mother or birthing person gets squeezed and compressed by fabric down the body in various methods.

In Mexico, this ceremony is known as Cerrar la Cadera or a Cerrada which translates to 'Closing of the Hips' or 'A Closing,' respectively. They use a traditional cloth known as the rebozo, which has many uses during pregnancy, birth, postpartum and more. They wrap one section of the body at a time, and in other cultures like Morocco and Russia they wrap the entire body in separate pieces of fabric, creating more of a whole-body squeeze/hug/swaddle experience.

From the Innate Traditions website Rachelle explains how she has had the opportunity to learn more about closing ceremonies practiced in other birth traditions. In Morocco, Closing of the Bones is called: Al-Shedd or Shedd/Shadd ('Al' meaning The, 'Shedd' meaning pull or pulling). The traditional cloth used to offer this care are called kourziyas.

“Russian midwives Ekaterina Perkhova and Zifa Astashko let me know that the name of Closing of the Bones in Russia is called: Seven Locks. And that the traditional cloth they use for this is called: Rushnyk (1). The specific kind of rushnyk used for this postpartum sealing is called: Svivallnik.”

I myself have heard of sealing ceremonies found in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and Serbia. This is a ritual that has traveled globally, and has deep roots in many traditional midwifery practices.

Does your culture practice a similar ceremony? I would love to know about it.

This video below explains many Moroccan postpartum healing traditions, including Al-Shedd.