Saturday, December 19, 2009

Weekend Movie: The most famous UC of all



Okay, so, not terribly realistic. Though I suppose it's possible Jesus was born without an umbilical cord . . . It's still better than "Maternity Ward".

I must say, I like the depiction of the star.

9 comments:

  1. Jesus was 100% man so he would have been born with an umbilical cord. I think that's just a movie glitch like how 'newborns' are almost always 3 months old or so (which I understand, its just kind of funny). I have to say it doesn't suffer from my personal pet peeve (well, at least not fully) of having the wise men arrive AT THE BIRTH. The star appeared at the birth and the wise men followed it from quite some distance away, Jesus was about 2 when they arrived! Kind of a wimpy angel though. At least Mary and Joseph weren't blue eyed and blonde haired!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So true on the 3 month old thing! Fun fact: I also learned recently that when they choose to portray newborns as realistically as possible - i.e. covered with vernix, not clean as a whistle like he is here - know what they use for vernix?

    CREAM CHEESE. For some reason this gives me a happy.

    I do agree on the matter of ethnicity, too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Completely unrelated to the beautiful story of the Nativity...
    :)

    I recently discovered your blog and love it. Can you do a short post on perineum massage if you have the time or direct me to a resource you particularly like? I tried it, but I feel too tight, it hurts, it burns, and I'm afraid I'm going to bust my cervix, haha.
    I've read over and over "how-to", but I'm a visual learner, and I can't find a video or even illustrations of the technique.
    I used my thumbs up to the first knuckle, so I don't think I'm doing it completely wrong.
    I used avocado oil (okay) and Easiotomy Cream (not nice - seemed to burn more.) I guess "For External Use Only" doesn't just mean "Don't put this stuff on toast."

    Anyway, this blog has become a regular stop for me -- I love it!
    Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Cathy! Glad you've been enjoying!

    Ask and ye shall receive - I'll get a post up tonight! (Barring unforeseen holiday activity complications, of course.)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, and congratulations on your impending arrival! When are you due-ish?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I guess we do tend to think of Jesus's birth as a UC, but Bethlehem must have had midwives, and I bet Joseph went and found one!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anne,

    Thank you SO much!
    I am due-ish around late April. (April 29th would be 'term.')

    Paula,

    That's something wonderful to think about. Even if they didn't call themselves "midwives", it's almost a sure bet that Mary had the assistance of one or two local women. (At least, I hope so! Shepherds gawking, cows mooing - I hope she had SOME female companionship!)
    The innkeeper has been sort of demonized throughout history, poor fellow, but he didn't have room -- so he said he didn't have room! But he DID offer them shelter, which is more than he "had" to do. If he had a wife, you can bet she made a visit out there with some locally grown herbs and teas.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paula and Cathy, I like that thought too, and wouldn't be at all surprised.

    Have you guys read "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant? It's a wonderful sort of retelling of one of the Genesis stories from the women's perspective. It's kind of in a similar vein as "The Mists of Avalon" (for Arthurian legend) and "The Firebrand" (for the Trojan war), with the tradition of midrash mixed in as well. Lots and lots of Biblical era midwifery! I highly recommend.

    EDIT: Perineal massage post manana.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anne,
    I haven't read of that but definitely want to check it out! I think we lost something terribly important when we forgot that WOMEN are supposed to attend to women during their times, just as Mary (youngster though she was) immediately went to tend to her kinswoman Elizabeth when she heard she had conceived.

    No hurry on the massage post - I read somewhere that it shouldn't be done until Week 34 - don't know if that's true, though...
    :)

    ReplyDelete