did they have an alternative to maxi pads or did they just free bleed-
In: Biology
No one knows for sure about ancient times, because it wasn’t documented. It is believed that flows were lighter back then than they are now, though, and menopause came earlier. Also, without birth control, you’re pregnant and/or breastfeeding for much of your period-having years, and you don’t menstruate during those times.
Some things that were used or are theorized to have been used:
Egypt: softened papyrus
Greece: wood wrapped in lint
Rome: wool
Japan: paper
Some Native Americans: moss, animal skin
(moss also used in ancient Africa and Asia)
Other: cotton, rabbit fur, knitted pads, grass
Medieval Europe: rags or free bleed into clothes
End of the 1800s is when the concept of menstrual products started.
[for more info](https://sexinfoonline.com/the-history-of-tampons/)
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I think i read somewhere that they used extra padding in the undergarments to absorb. Hence the term, being on the rag.
In some cultures, menstruating women were required to separate themselves from the community, living in a different room/house/hut.
[The Curse](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/872201.The_Curse) is a pretty good bit of research on this.
My grandmothers (b 1916, 1922) were poor growing up and used rags, basically any scrap material available. As a teen, I used old washcloths in a pinch because I failed to plan ahead.
Ive been told in school that in most countries back then women would tall travel out into the wilderness or huddle together in one house while on their periods. I guess rags burlap sacks or free bleeding was used.
There is actually a lot of historical information about this if you look for it. It is not true that it was not recorded. Cultures developed their own narratives about the status of a woman in menstruation. This narrative, as well as the practical processes for handling it, is most definitely recorded by those who kept some form of written history and rules of society.
In regards to ancient times, menstruation is a major issue for any small, close-knit community that is constantly working together for survival. Menstruation can have a major productivity effect on the workforce. In fact, in American culture, menstruation was considered a primary reason to keep women out of the workforce until improved products began to become available in probably 1970’s-1980’s.
Many ancient cultures were not shy about bodily processes as we are today in western culture. Not only are menstruation processes recorded, in some cases they are part of a narrative history of an event, because a woman in menses was a factor in the story. There are even religious texts that refer to various aspects of menstruation.
Some cultures isolated menstruating women in a hut separated from the village or group housing. There were holes or other methods for keeping things sanitary.
But this separation can be a problem for a group that needed all able-bodied adults to produce to keep the community fed and cared for. That is very likely the impetus to come up with other methods that allowed women to continue their normal daily life while menstruating.
In order for the ‘alternative to maxi pads’, which was rags or some form of plant or other matter, there had to be a way to suspend it where it was needed. In modern times this is known as underwear aka panties. But a lot of historical cultures did not have a garment of that type. Without getting detailed, if the culture did use something of the type, it was handled in a practical manner.
In ‘modern times’ in western society, say from the 1700’s onward, about, progress in western societies for handling menstruation has been frankly slow. But during the 20th century, as women began to enter the workforce in greater numbers, products for menstruation have evolved ever more rapidly.
There has been probably more change in how western women handle menstruation in the last 50 years than in the last 500. 🙂
A link to some details …
https://www.simplehealth.com/blog/a-history-of-menstrual-hygiene
Check out [Blood Magic The Anthropology of Menstruation](https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520063501/blood-magic) by Thomas Buckley (Editor), Alma Gottlieb (Editor). An amazing read that looks at numerous practices, taboos, myths etc from around the world and through time.
You didn’t have that many.
Onset of menstruation was later. Let’s say, 16 or 18 even. Then you’d then get married and start having sex right after that, and then immediately get pregnant.
No periods while pregnant. No periods while mostly breastfeeding.
In earlier times, breastfeeding went on much longer. When I had my kids more than 25 years ago, I read that the worldwide median age of weaning at that time was around age 5. In other words, for every developed world woman who immediately switched to bottle feeding, there probably was a kid somewhere else in the world who was still getting snacks from mom as a ten or twelve year old. I could imagine in our not-too-distant past, most kids might have had some amount of breastmilk up until considered an adult.
You do that much breastfeeding? It’s not like when you have one kid, start that kid on some solids, and breastfeed less, and your periods return. It probably was closer to every two or three years, your periods might return. Ok, one or two periods, and boom! You’re pregnant again.
And finally, you die in childbirth. You might have menstruated a dozen times in your entire life.
In the rural American south from 1900-1940, my grandma and her family members pinned folded up old flour sacks in their panties. You had plenty of them, since that was a staple food. I can’t speak for the absorbency. That probably also made laundry a little more complicated, as the fabric will have to soak in water for a bit to remove the blood.
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