it would seem the the women of the world over time 
developed "traditions" that worked to keep them healthier, happier 
and connected with other women.  Birth control didn't exist as we 
know it and large families were the rule both by religion and by 
economics in Mexico. It sounds like 40 days worked the world over.

My fathers aunt was a midwife in the district of Jerez Zacatecas.  
She learned her trade from her mother, Gertrudis Caldera (1869).  It 
was a mixture of religion and Indian medicines.  If someone died, 
she knew all the litanies by heart and was always called and never 
failed to go, she spend hours teaching her daughter to recite them 
by heart too. In El Durazno she was also the one who directed 
preparing the body for burial.  She delivered babies, fixed aches 
and pains, gave us Yuerba-Buena for tummy aches and had a remedy for 
everything. She was a blend of superstitious and religious. In doing 
the genealogy I find her Garcia ancestors were Indio and her Alcala 
ancestors were Mulato/Indio.  It's no wonder that she was the result 
of 3 cultures.. I was 5 when Gr-grandma Tula died but still her 
legacy lives on when the family gets together at reunions and shares 
stories she told about her life in Mexico before immigrating in 1916 
because of the revolution.
Linda in Wa.