Burial of the placenta

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 March 2010 09:28 Sunday, 07 March 2010 16:10

Burial of the placenta

At the end of human life, at the funeral, the words used are ‘from dust ye came, and to dust ye shall return’

The human placenta is usually regarded in Western medicine as nothing more than hospital waste, but it receives ceremonial handling by many cultures around the world.

Maoris have a tradition of burying the placenta - the word for land and placenta are the same: whenua.

In another culture, the word for placenta can be translated as "jacket," as it's considered an infant's first and finest clothing.

Placenta burial is a blessing for the child, family, and earth; it can be considered a rite of passage.

When a child is born the relationships within the family change. We are renamed - we become mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle and we add new energy and power to the hands joining generation to generation.

As Christians we declare our love and the integration of our faith journey with the child in the rite of baptism.

The placenta which connected [mother's name] and [baby's name] was the conduit through which life was shared. It was the means of nurture in the womb.

The nourishing life force for the baby, it too, was the child's mother. Instead of discarding the placenta, we honour it as divine and sacred, and return it to the Earth.

Plant placenta and tree

Let us pray

We give thanks for the life blood which flowed through this placenta

We give thanks for the jacket which nourished [baby's name]

We give thanks for the safe journey to birth

We offer back, with thanks, those gifts.

May the nourishment continue now in a different way

May this tree be regarded as part of [baby's name’s] future

His/her tree

His/her past

His/her connection back to the earth

The cycle of life continues

Amen