Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Museum notebook: Explaining where babies come from

By Sandi Black
Whanganui Chronicle·
29 Sep, 2019 03:59 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An Edwardian couple inspect cabbage patch babies. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 2008.33.3 60B

An Edwardian couple inspect cabbage patch babies. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 2008.33.3 60B

Explaining where babies come from sometimes causes slight discomfort for some people.

Before children are old enough to understand the intricacies of the birds and the bees, many people choose to gloss over the story.

Some parents make a wish and invoke the baby into existence.

Some parents plant a seed and wait for it to grow (which is technically true). And others require a bit more imagination.

The classic story that comes to mind is the stork, the long-legged deliverer of babies in blankets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This myth has appeared in folklore around the world including Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the American continent.

A common birthmark on the back of a baby's neck or face is still referred to today as a stork bite.

But why the stork? They are large birds and thought to be big enough to carry a human baby.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They are white, the colour commonly used to represent the innocence and purity of a newborn child.

Cranes and herons also feature in Greek and Egyptian mythology relating to babies. The birds look similar, which could explain the association.

In Europe stork migration begins at the summer solstice and they return in spring, a journey of nine months.

Many pagan weddings took place at the summer solstice and a lot of babies were born in spring, when the storks returned to raise their chicks; thus, the birds became a symbol of new life.

Discover more

Tale of Thumbelina told through dance

27 Sep 05:00 PM

What are WDC candidates committed to?

27 Sep 05:00 PM

Whanganui council hopefuls front voters

27 Sep 05:00 PM

New Zealand Glassworks turns three

29 Sep 04:00 PM

That belief developed into the concept of birds bringing human babies back from migration with them.

The myth was solidified in public thought in the 1830s when Hans Christian Anderson wrote his version of the fairy tale, The Storks.

In this story, storks pulled dreaming babies out of lakes and brought them to deserving families, but families with badly behaved children were given dead babies as a punishment.

This fairy tale served as a warning to children to behave, and also fitted very well with Victorian prudishness and desire to hide the crude realities of making babies.

Another way to gloss over the reality of reproduction is by the old "found it in the garden" excuse.

When people think of Cabbage Patch Babies, they think of the popular toys from the 1980s with their chubby cheeks and official adoption certificates.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But these toys are a much later incarnation of another 19th century baby-making fable.

Sisters Pansy, Queenie and Claire Nixon of Sedgebrook Grange in Whanganui East were avid collectors of postcards.

They collected a series published in around 1906 and produced by an uncredited artist from the French School Style.

They explicitly show the process of how babies were made in cabbage patch mythology.

In the series a gardener tends to his crops, watering them and ensuring they are getting all they need to grow healthy and strong.

A number of well-dressed Edwardian couples browse among row upon row of plump cruciferous cherubs. Once they have made up their minds the gardener picks one fresh cabbage patch baby to take home.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Like the stork, the gardener is seen making deliveries to the doors of deserving families.

* Sandi Black is the Archivist at Whanganui Regional Museum.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

$3.2m confirmed for rural health centre

07 Jul 09:14 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Taihape books return to premier final

07 Jul 05:01 PM
Premium
Opinion

Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

07 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

$3.2m confirmed for rural health centre

$3.2m confirmed for rural health centre

07 Jul 09:14 PM

Raetihi's existing health facility will be transformed into a 'wellness centre'.

Taihape books return to premier final

Taihape books return to premier final

07 Jul 05:01 PM
Kaierau end Border’s reign, secure finals spot

Kaierau end Border’s reign, secure finals spot

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP