Muristek
Cultural birthing practices are what Indigenous women need, it’s time we invested | Melanie Briggs for IndigenousX
Birthing on country and Aboriginal community-controlled services put culture at the centre of health and wellness which means better outcomes
Indigenous women have been birthing since time immemorial, when the lands were pure and the dreaming stories were a reality. Birthing is the first ceremonial journey we go through to leave the spirit world to come into the physical world. Our connection to our ancestors and our culture provides our people with a sense of belonging and grounds our ways of knowing, being and doing.
For thousands of years Indigenous women have used traditional birthing medicines and methods while caring for women in labour, birth and postpartum periods. A continuation of thousands of years of knowledge that has been diluted and overtaken by the western models of medical care. The dispossession of traditional Indigenous birthing methodologies has led to the loss of cultural birthing practices, languages and self-determination of the oldest living peoples on the planet. But we are still here and not defeated!
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