How did the stork become associated with babies?

The Greeks noted that storks tended to return to the same nests year after year, and that the birds also devoted a great deal of time to raising their young. Over time, the belief that storks were exemplary parents began to arise, making the first link between storks and babies. After all, if storks were so good at raising their own young, surely they would be skilled at handling human infants!



Although Greek culture may have faded, the associations between storks and parenting continued to be strong in many parts of Europe. In Northern Europe, where storks appear in the spring after wintering in warmer climes, storks were thought of as messengers of spring and fertility. The birds also happened to show up right around the same that major fertility festivals were held, and people came to associate the coming of storks with parties and the conception of babies.



The European White Stork also happens to be famous for nesting on rooftops, which contributed the next piece of the puzzle. People came to believe that having a stork nest on the roof was good luck, and legends about storks dropping babies down the chimney came to abound. Northern Europeans believed that the more storks in town, the more babies there would be, and this legend continues to endure in some regions.



The image of a kindly stork carrying an infant to expecting parents became very popular in the Victorian era, when many people developed a prudish attitude to childbirth and the facts of life. Rather than giving children the gory details, parents would simply inform them that a stork had brought their new brother or sister, and in fact some Victorian wits used this as a comic device, with baby-laden storks pursuing young single women down the street in fanciful postcards.



Today, most people accept that storks are not actually responsible for the appearance of babies, or for fertility rates. However, the association between storks and babies continues to endure, as does the evasive response the stork brought you to curious children.
Because storks used to kidnap babies and eat them.
Storks are very migratory and predicatble birds. They leave northern Europe in fall for Africa and return every year in late March and early April.



The summer solstice occurs on June 21st. The summer solstice (the longest day of the year) was a major European holiday well celebrated with festivals, weddings and lots of drinking.



As many of us know... weddings and festive drinking often leads to having sex.



Now if you do the math....



June 21st, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March 21st..... 9 months later....in late March, early April..... When the storks start arriving..... See where I