Midwife Day

"MIDWIFE'S DAY "IS CELEBRATED ON JANUARY 8TH EACH YEAR TO HONOR MIDWIVES AND ALL WOMEN. IN GREEK MACEDONIA, THIS WAS A DAY THAT WAS DEDICATED TO "ELEITHYIA", THE GODDESS OF BIRTH, THE MIDWIFE GODDESS WHO PROTECTED WOMEN DURING PREGNANCY AND LABOR. SHE WAS AN ANCIENT GODDESS WHO, ACCORDING TO SOME, EXISTED AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME. PREGNANT WOMEN FROM ALL OVER CRETE TRAVELED TO HER SACRED CAVE HER BLESSING ON THEIR PREGNANCY AND HER AID IN AN EASY BIRTH.

IN ONE STORY, SHE WAS SENT BY "HERA" TO DELAY "HERACLES'S" BIRTH SO THAT ANOTHER CHILD IN THE BLOODLINE OF "PERSEUS" WOULD BE BORN FIRST AND, THUS, CLAIM THE TITLE OF "KING OF ARGOS." CONSEQUENTLY, "EURYSTHEUS" WAS BORN BEFORE" HERACLES" AND BECAME" HERACLES'S" EARTHLY MASTER.

Although She never played a very large role in Greek mythology She was, nonetheless, a major cult goddess with a large number of shrines located throughout Greece." Eileithyia" was invoked by women in labor, to further the birth and ease the pain of labour.

Credit: pagan-wiccan.blogspot.com