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Some Interesting Fertility Rituals
May 17
A modern fertility rite. On this day in the town of Obando, in the Philippine islands, childless couples seek to improve their luck in starting families by dancing at a special fertility festival. The objective of the dance is to win the intercession of the Catholic saints.
In this medieval woodcut, a priest and his attendants defy all modern notions of conjugal privacy by visiting a newlywed couple as they lie in their bed. The cleric sprinkles the lovers with holy water to ensure the fertility and good fortune of their union. |
January 3
To ensure fertility for the tribe’s women, the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States don deer headresses and perform ritual dances.
June 1
The marrying month. Named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage, the month of June was considered by the ancient Romans to be the most auspicious time for weddings. More than ftfteen centuries later, the month remains a favorite for nuptials in many Western cultures. Other wedding customs–including the medieval one of blessing the marriage bed–owe much to early European beliefs about fertility. The traditional wedding cake, for example, traces its heritage to a time when the bride wore ears of grain to ensure her fertility. The grain gave way to bread and then to wedding cake.
February 15
A bloody tradition. On the Roman holiday of Lupercalia, a group of young noblemen gathered at the Lupercal, a cave believed to be the den of the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. After sacrificing goats and a dog, the men smeared themselves with blood, dressed in the animals’ skins, then circled the old city slapping people with strips of goat skin. Women volunteered to be struck, to induce fertility and guarantee easy childbirth.