Protection from Lilith in Traditional Jewish History

I hope yunz’ all can appreciate baby-killing demon-goddesses as much as I do. They appear in so many cultures, and explain so much about women’s fears (like being the worst sort of woman — a) one who murdered children and b) hadn’t been able to manage her love affairs with a man in socially-acceptable ways.). So here’s an amulet to ward off Lilith, the demoness that features prominently in Medieval Jewish birthing and naming rituals.

Lilith-legends are much more ancient than Jewish traditions that emerged among the Eastern European Ashkenazi people, but they were part-and-parcel of their Medieval birthing traditions. As it the case with so many cultures, attention to ritual purity — which was about spiritual cleanliness and of course not germs as we understand them — was paramount when mothers gave birth. Special prayers from the Hebrew Bible were read during their labor, and a magic circle enclosed the birthing room to keep evil spirits away.

The mother might hold the keys to the local synagogue in her hand if the birth were very tumultuous, and whatever knots or ties existed in her clothing would be undone. Talismans such as the one shown here (which actually dates to the 18th-or-19th century) protected against Lilith, who would sicken or kill children who didn’t wear such pendants. In the weeks that followed her labor, women frequently held bars made of iron with special protective words.

Boys were formally named at their circumcisions, which happened eight days after their birth. As often has been the case, girls’ naming ceremonies have less evidence. In Germany by the 15th-century, records do begin to show special naming ceremonies for daughters done about a month after birth, when sons would also get a second, non-Jewish name.

Waiting a bit before naming an infant might have allowed communities to make sure they were welcoming a child who was more likely to live, having successfully passed through the birthing process. Ah, if only microscopes had been around to document germs instead of demons. . . .