Ancient Forms
Fertility symbols have traditionally taken on many different forms. The prehistoric Venus of Willendorf is commonly regarded as an example of a feminine fertility symbol - its rotundity and obesity being seen as attractive in times when food was scarce.
Certain animals that reproduce prolifically are also seen as fertility symbols, such as frogs and rabbits - the Easter Bunny as symbol of rebirth and fertility - while the same is also true of the widespread classical image of intertwining snakes. Freud considered the pig to be a further primitive symbol of fertility.
The Sacred marriage of sovereign Queen/mother and the annually dying fertility godling was itself a fertility symbol. Not unconnected was the phallus as a symbol of vegetative fertility, linked to the notion that the ritual performance of the sexual act promotes agricultural growth.
Read more about this topic: Fertility Symbol
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