Couvade ([kuvad] ⓘ) is a term which was coined by the anthropologistEdward Burnett Tylor in 1865 to refer to certain rituals in several cultures that fathers adopt duringpregnancy.
Couvade can be traced toAncient Egypt as a "sacred birth custom, of when a child is born, the man experiences the ritual of 'labor' in which he takes to his bed, and undergoes periods of fasting and purification, and the observance of certain taboos".[1]
TheAncient Greek writerPlutarch mentions a report byPaeon of Amathus of a custom inCyprus honouring the myth ofAriadne (who had died while pregnant) in which a young man would lie down and imitate the crying and gesturing of women during labor.[2]
The term "couvade" is borrowed fromFrench, which derives it from the verbcouver ("to brood, hatch"). The term's use in the modern sense derives from a misunderstanding of an earlier idiomfaire la couvade, which meant "to sit doing nothing".[3]
An example of couvade was from theCantabri, who had a custom in which the father, during or immediately after the birth of a child, took to bed, complained of having labour pains and was accorded the treatment usually shown to women during pregnancy or after childbirth. Similarly, inPapua New Guinea, fathers built a hut outside the village and mimicked the pains of labour until the baby was born. Similar rituals occur in other cultural groups inThailand,Albania,Russia,China,India[4] and many indigenous groups inSouth America.[5]
In some cultures, "sympathetic pregnancy" is attributed to efforts to ward off demons or spirits from the mother or seek favour of supernatural beings for the child.[6] Couvade has been reported by travelers throughout history, including the Greek geographerStrabo (3.4.17).
According toClaude Lévi-Strauss, the custom of couvade reinforces the institution of the family in some societies by "welding" together men and their wives and future children.[7]
The dictionary definition ofcouvade at Wiktionary