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'Fertility Chairs'

Swifty

Swifty

doesn't negotiate with terriers
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
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Most of us have heard of chairs that are said to increase a woman's chance of conceiving, these are usually to be found in a pub or workplace with typically several women becoming pregnant after sitting on them. The oldest one I've found so far is in the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem pub in Nottingham:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Trip_To_Jerusalem

As the chairs are traditionally wooden (though not always nowadays), I'm wondering if this superstition is a carry over from touching wood for good luck?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12935658
 
I'm not sure about the chairs being wooden. Every so often, there's a slow-news-day type of story in some town or other's local press about a supermarket where all the girls from checkout no.8 (or whichever it might be) seem to get pregnant in succession. I wouldn't imagine that cashiers sit on wooden seats these days?
 
Swifty said:
Most of us have heard of chairs that are said to increase a woman's chance of conceiving, these are usually to be found in a pub or workplace with typically several women becoming pregnant after sitting on them. The oldest one I've found so far is in the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem pub in Nottingham:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Trip_To_Jerusalem
Click to expand...
I've been in there! My (female) friend didn't become pregnant though.
 
Swifty said:
As the chairs are traditionally wooden (though not always nowadays)
Click to expand...

;) .... and yes, I think it's the tradition that's carried on. My girlfriend reckons women are more relaxed after sitting in the chair and knowing the legend so that could be a factor in helping them to conceive ... sort of a placebo effect chair .. I've got a hunch that this superstition is probably rooted in Wicca ..

The fertility chair of Naples:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/12/03/italy-religion-chair-idUKGRI32798120071203

Supermarket fertility chair:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...onepage&q=fertility chair supermarket&f=false

The history and superstition of touching wood:

http://www.touchwoodforluck.com.au/history/
 
Last edited:
Pretty sure we already had a thread on this. Anyone with half a day to spare might try searching for it...!
 
rynner2 said:
Pretty sure we already had a thread on this. Anyone with half a day to spare might try searching for it...!
Click to expand...

You'd think so wouldn't you ... I tried fertility chair and pregnant in the search and haven't found anything.
 
We do/did have one. I remember posting in it.
Next thing, I was up t'duff! ;)
 
Thanks Rynner, I'll have a look at those :)
 
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