Mythology
Mayan mythology explains the origin of menstruation as a punishment for violating the social rules governing marital alliance. The menstrual blood turns into snakes and insects used in black sorcery, before the Maya moon goddess is reborn from it.
In Judaism and Christianity, the latter derives from the first, it is of the punishment for the disobedience of Eve who would eat of the Forbidden Fruit to know of the difference between good and evil. "For in suffering and pain she shall bring forth her children", this would appear to be a prelude to the act of giving birth.
The history of Nepal’s virgin cult is ancient, and the practice of the revering little girls as goddesses there dates back to before the thirteenth century. Kathmandu’s Royal Kumari is a manifestation of the deity Teleju, who, centuries ago, played dice with Nepal’s king until he offended her with his lust-filled glances. As a result, she vowed never to return, except in the guise of a young girl. A Kumari is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body. Serious illness, a major loss of blood from an injury or even a small indication of laughter are also causes for her to revert to common status. Such a myth is based on the mental desequilibrium of some lowly to degenerate or regressive females, unless severely undernourished women in whose case mental faculties can be affected.
Read more about this topic: Menstruation And The Origins Of Culture/Archive 1
Famous quotes containing the word mythology:
“Love, love, love—all the wretched cant of it, masking egotism, lust, masochism, fantasy under a mythology of sentimental postures, a welter of self-induced miseries and joys, blinding and masking the essential personalities in the frozen gestures of courtship, in the kissing and the dating and the desire, the compliments and the quarrels which vivify its barrenness.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“This is the frost coming out of the ground; this is Spring. It precedes the green and flowery spring, as mythology precedes regular poetry. I know of nothing more purgative of winter fumes and indigestions. It convinces me that Earth is still in her swaddling-clothes, and stretches forth baby fingers on every side.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)