Birth/christening

“Neighbors and friends began to visit the mother immediately . . . the people of the household invited guests to the chrzciny (celebration after the christening.) It was also a custom that no neighbor or friend came with empty hands. Each brought what she could --bread, eggs, bacon, sometimes a bit to drink--and they put all this under the pillow, under the mother’s head. This raised the pillow so high that the mother was no longer lying in bed but sitting up,” “The christening party usually lasted up to three days, with fun, joyful singing, chatting . . . “After her delivery and the christening, the mother got out of bed after a week at most and went back to her usual work and was in good health. It did sometimes happen that her health failed, and she even died--particularly during the christening, immediately after the birth, when guests came freely and enjoyed themselves loudly without any regard for the sick mother, and vodka was being passed around, even served to the mother.” from Jan Slomka’s book: Memoirs of a Peasant: From Serfdom to the Present Day