Dinah's mothers

[Rachel-K]

Please use this thread to discuss the characters that Dinah calls her mothers! What are each of their attributes? What do you make of Dinah's relationship to each of them, and how do those relationships change?

[IBIS]

It was fascinating that Jacob's wives had a hierarchy of their own... Leah as the head wife, and Rachel, as it were, second in command. The other 2 sisters, as handmaidens to Leah and Rachel, were treated kindly, but less formally, by Jacob.

Dinah, as the only girl, was blessed to have been born to Leah, because that gave her so much more status. Her three "aunties" doted on her, not only because she is the only girl in their extended family, but also because she shared the oral tradition of their
story telling in the red tent.

Because she is so close to all the women, she closely observes their daily activities, and in turn, learns not just the cooking, and women's jobs, but she enjoys the added benefit of being within hearing distance of a lot of family discussions and decisions.
She's not in far off fields tending the sheep, like the boys are. So she has a bird's eye view, so to speak, of intimate family affairs.

[Peppermill]

Some of the pictures and notes here may be of interest. I especially noted the face covering of the woman at the top of the page.

http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.4.Rachel.htm

The links here to family/religion, major events, and clothing/housing may be of interest, although they probably are largely based on later periods.

http://www.womeninthebible.net/

About a third of the way down this page is a haunting myth about Leah and Dinah in her womb:

http://religiousreading.bestmoodle.net/blog/labels/biblewomen.html

At the end is an early 17th-century painting by Hendrick ter Brugghen which shows Jacob protesting to Laban on the day after his marriage to Leah. The clothing is obviously not historically accurate, but the expressions are telling. This painting can also be accessed via:

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/
cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG4164
(Use both lines, click on image for a larger view.)

[Laurel]

Fascinating stuff, Peppermill. If you click this picture, a picture of a woman "on her stools" giving birth will pop up:

http://bible.bestlatin.net/gallery/genesis1/hagar_160.htm

[Peppermill]

Laurel -- Neat -- while on that site, did you note this one of Laban and Jacob with Leah and Rachel in the background:

http://bible.bestlatin.net/gallery/genesis1/jaclaban_8.htm

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Laurel wrote:
Fascinating stuff, Peppermill. If you click this picture, a picture of a woman "on her stools" giving birth will pop up:

http://bible.bestlatin.net/gallery/genesis1/hagar_160.htm

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[Rachel-K]

Laurel and Peppermill,

Wonderful links, thanks! The birthing chair is really interesting--I guess we skipped "birthing positions through the ages" in my world civ class!

Rachel