Couvade refers to a cluster of ritual practices in which a father adopts pregnancy- or childbirth-like behaviors during his partner's pregnancy or labor, taking to his bed, observing fasting or dietary restrictions, undergoing purification rites, or, in one Papua New Guinea example, building a hut outside the village and mimicking the pains of labor until the child is born. The term was coined in 1865 by anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor, though the underlying practices were described far earlier by classical writers including Strabo and Plutarch. It has been documented among a geographically wide and unrelated set of cultures, including groups in Thailand, Albania, Russia, China, India, South America and Papua New Guinea. Claude Lévi-Strauss offered an influential interpretation, proposing that couvade 'reinforces the institution of the family in some societies by welding together men and their wives and future children.' This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountNo single typical region; documented across widely dispersed and culturally unrelated societies, including Thailand, Albania, Russia, China, India, parts of South America, Papua New Guinea, and among the ancient Cantabri of Iberia. 1 Documented YearSourced to the subject's own account1865 is when the term was coined by E. B. Tylor; the practices themselves are described in classical antiquity by Strabo and Plutarch, well before the modern anthropological term existed. Connections
Studied By
Source Wikipedia: Couvade
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Couvade
Wikipediaterm-coinage discussion
The term "couvade" was coined by the anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in 1865 and is borrowed from French, which derives it from the verb couver ("to brood, hatch").
regional documentation
Similar rituals occur in other cultural groups in Thailand, Albania, Russia, China, India and many indigenous groups in South America.
term itself
The term's use in the modern sense derives from a misunderstanding of an earlier idiom faire la couvade, which meant "to sit doing nothing".
opening description and Lévi-Strauss discussion
Couvade ([kuvad] ) is a set of certain rituals in several cultures that fathers adopt during pregnancy.
- Studied By: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Lévi-Strauss discussion: "reinforces the institution of the family in some societies by 'welding' together men and their wives and future children"
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