"In Aboriginal culture, we do a ceremony of burying the placenta," Ms Seale said. "It's very significant and connects us to our ancestors and our country."
“For many Indigenous cultures, the placenta is a living being.” Some other cultures believe in a sort of twinning of child and placenta. In Ancient Egypt, the placenta was considered by many to be a child's secret helper. Some Icelandic and Balinese cultures see the placenta as a child's guardian angel.
Mayan people's religious tradition roots them to the earth at the moment of birth. When a Mayan child is born, the placenta is buried in the ground as a religious ritual. This place holds special meaning for the Maya; it is where the individual is symbolically “planted” in the ground to root his or her Mayan identity.
At the time of birth, or just before the birth, the child is given totems. A totem links the person directly with creation time and the spiritual world (sometimes referred to as The Dreaming), and with all living creatures and the land of the Gamilaraay peoples.
After giving birth, indigenous women in rural West Mexico traditionally bury the umbilical cord underneath a tree on their land. This ritual symbolizes the planting of roots for their child in the land and in the community, thus reaffirming the child's cultural connections.
Preparing the placenta for consumption by mothers is considered traditional among Vietnamese and Chinese people. The Chinese believe a nursing mother should boil the placenta, make a broth, then drink it to improve her milk.
Igbo tribe of Africa believe that burying the placenta connects the child to the spirits in the ground, and the placenta was given the name “Our Mother.” Native American tribes Chinook and Quinault call the placenta “Grandmother.” The Maori of New Zealand bury the placenta on tribal land to tie the child to the land.
Aboriginal peoples from all over incorporate some type of rituals and ceremonies into labour and birth. Smudging, drumming, singing, and bathing are some things that can be part of labour and birth.
We don't have recessive genes for our skin colour, so there is no 'throwback' for it among us (unlike red hair, which pops up every second or third generation). An Aboriginal baby is never browner than the darker-skinned parent. Indigenous people in Australia come in all colours of the rainbow in their complexions.
It was found that many Aboriginal twin pregnancies and births are physically and practically challenging and the majority of multiples are born early and small.
Do Hospitals Keep Placentas? Hospitals treat placentas as medical waste or biohazard material. The newborn placenta is placed in a biohazard bag for storage. Some hospitals keep the placenta for a period of time in case the need arises to send it to pathology for further analysis.
You may choose to discard it; in which case your hospital or birthing centre will take care of this. If you wish to take your placenta home, you can speak to your doctor or midwife to arrange this. In some cultures, people bury the placenta in a special place.
The placenta cannot be thrown out in the normal garbage. If you do not want your placenta after taking it home you must bring it back to your doctor or midwife. They will throw it out properly.
In Samoa the placenta must be totally burned or buried so it will not be found by evil spirits. Burying or burning it at home also ensures the child will remain close to home as it moves through life.
The nutrients that have passed from mother to foetus over months of pregnancy are, some believe, still packed inside the bloody organ and should not be wasted. Instead, the raw placenta could provide just what the mother needs as she recovers from childbirth and begins breastfeeding.
Functions of the placenta include: Provides your baby with oxygen and nutrients. Removes harmful waste and carbon dioxide from your baby. Produces hormones that help your baby grow.
Aboriginal people can be dark-skinned and broad-nosed, or blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Let's get rid of some myths!
Results: The Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations had significantly different ABO and RhD distributions (P < 0.001). For Aboriginal individuals, 955/1686 (56.6%) were group O and 669/1686 (39.7%) were group A. In non-Aboriginal individuals, 1201/2657 (45.2%) were group O and 986/2657 (37.1%) were group A.
Indeed, by 31,000 years ago, most Aboriginal communities were genetically isolated from each other. This divergence was most likely caused by environmental barriers; in particular the evolution of an almost impassable central desert as the Australian continent dried out.
We do not provide certificates to confirm Aboriginality.
It's a story that has been repeated for generations of Aboriginal families in Australia, and it's still happening today. In 2019/20, 952 Aboriginal children across NSW were removed from their families, a 2.6% increase on the year prior.
The Adoption Act 2000 does allow for Aboriginal children to be adopted but additional requirements must be met before an adoption order can be made. Importantly, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principles still apply.
The placenta, or whenua, is very sacred in the Māori culture and it is custom for it to be buried at a place of cultural significance or on ancestral land, as the Māori people believe that humans came from the Earth mother Papatūānuku, so returning the whenua to the land is a sign of respect and thanks.
Once the hospital is done with the placenta, it is put on a truck with all the other medical waste accumulated at the hospital for proper disposal. In some hospitals, placentas are incinerated on site.
Although the primary sequences of the DNA are the same between the placenta and embryo, the different structure of the DNA between the two helps determine the fate of the cells. The Yale team led by Xiao discovered placental growth is then regulated by the sixth base of DNA, N6-methyladenine.