The length of time between birth and churching in England was also
about a month, at least by the time the Book of Common Prayer came into
use, and my impression is that this was just a continuation of the
former custom. David Cressy published an article about churching a
couple of years or so ago in _Past and Present_, and also deals with the
topic in his _Birth, Marriage and Death: Ritual, Religion and the
Life-cycle in Tudor and Stuart England_ (1997).
Sharon Arnoult
History Dept.
SWTSU
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