How did the stork get involved in delivering babies?

Answer 1

In Victorian times the details of human reproduction were difficult to approach, especially in reply to a child's query of "Where did I come from?"; "The stork brought you to us" was the tactic used to avoid discussion of sex. This habit was derived from the once popular superstition that storks were the harbingers of happiness and prosperity.

That could of also dated from much earlier times...

In Ancient Egypt the stork was associated with the human ba; they had the same phonetic value. The ba was the unique individual character of each human being: a stork with a human head was an image of the ba-soul, which unerringly migrates home each night, like the stork, to be reunited with the body during the Afterlife

The Hebrew word for stork was equivalent to "kind mother", and the care of storks for their young, in their highly visible nests, made the stork a widespread emblem of parental care. It was widely noted in ancient natural history that a stork pair will be consumed with the nest in a fire, rather than fly and abandon it.

In Greek mythology, Gerana was an Æthiope, the enemy of Hera, who changed her into a stork, a punishment Hera also inflicted on Antigone, daughter of Laomedon of Troy (Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.93). Stork-Gerana tried to abduct her child, Mopsus. This accounted, for the Greeks, for the mythic theme of the war between the pygmies and the storks. In popular Western culture, there is a common image of a stork bearing an infant wrapped in cloths held in its beak; the stork, rather than absconding with the child Mopsus, is pictured as delivering the infant, an image of childbirth.

So there are a number of options.

Answer 2

The stork has been revered in Europe at least since the Middle Ages, and its association with babies seems to have originated in northern Germany centuries ago. While we can't be certain about the origins of this belief, several aspects of the stork's natural history suggest how it might have come about.

White storks are highly migratory, leaving Europe for Africa in the fall. (They generally avoid crossing the Mediterranean, moving south in huge flocks over the strait of Gibraltar and through the Middle East and Sinai.) They return to central and northen Europe in late March or early April, and hence, like the cuckoo and some other migratory species, are regarded as a herald of spring. They arrive just about nine months after Midsummer's Day, June 21, the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. This was a major festival in pagan Europe, a time for weddings as well as merrymaking well lubricated by fermented beverages. (After the arrival of Christianity the feast continued to be celebrated as Saint John's Day; the modern association of June with weddings may also be related to this festival.) The return of storks just as the progeny resulting from summer revels put in their appearance would not have gone unnoted.

Although paired storks do not migrate or winter together, individuals have a strong tendency to return to the nest site they used previously, so the same pairs tend to re-form every spring. Because of this storks gained a reputation for marital fidelity, even though they don't actually mate for life. The adult birds continue to feed and care for the young for some time after they can fly. This prolonged association seems to have led to the belief that it was actually the young birds that were taking care of their parents. This legend is thought to explain why a law of ancient Greece about taking care of one's parents is called the Pelargonia, from pelargos, a stork.

With these multiple associations with fertility, fidelity, and filial piety it's little wonder that storks became a symbol of domesticity and good luck. Because of this, people have long encouraged them to nest near their homes. Although they originally nested in trees, storks are very tolerant of human activity, and today in Europe their most common nest site is on rooftops. This together with the association with babies may have led to the popular image of a stork delivering a little bundle of joy by dropping it down the chimney.

Answer 3

its not the storks that bring the babies its the larks at night

Answer 4

UPS and FedEx got swamped one year. Storks work cheap, and they're non-union.

Answer 5

properly . . at the same time as a mummy stalk and a daddy stalk love one yet another very a lot, they rub beaks . . and magically a touch one stalk seems :) properly it truly is what my mum use to inform me . . . . i did not have self belief her both :)