Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World"Blood is everywhere in our society: on nightly T.V., in daily newspaper photos, in religious imagery. Yet menstrual blood is never mentioned and almost never seen, except privately by women. A girl's first period is usually kept secret, a source of embarrassment and irritation. Menstruation in our culture is invisible and irrelevant if properly hidden, shameful and unclean if not." "It was not always this way. Long ago, in cultures around the world, a girl's menarchal passage was a time of celebration and initiation, and a time for ceremony, often including special clothing and foods and a period of seclusion. Far more than a biological event, menstruation was a recognized mark of female power, a source of ritual and of awe." "The influence of early menstrual rites remains visible in our culture today. According to Judy Grahn, the ancient rites explain much of contemporary material culture - why women wear lipstick and eye makeup and adorn themselves with earrings and hair clasps, or why forks, bowls, chairs, rugs, and shoes originated, for instance. But Grahn also reveals the profound connections between ancient menstrual rites and the development of agriculture, mathematics, geometry, writing, calendars, horticulture, architecture, astronomy, cooking, money, and many other realms of knowledge. Blending archaeological data, ethnography, folklore, history, and myth, she constructs a new myth of origin for us all, demonstrating that menstruation is what made us human." "Blood, Bread, and Roses reclaims woman's myths and stories, chronicling the ways in which women's actions and the teaching of myth have interacted over the millennia. Grahn argues that culture has been a weaving between the genders, a sharing of wisdom derived from menstruation. Her rich interpretations of ancient menstrual rites give us a new and hopeful story of culture's beginnings based on the integration of body, mind, and spirit found women's traditions. Blood, Bread, and Roses offers all of us a way back to understanding the true meaning of women's menstrual power."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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Africa ancestral ancient animals associated birds bleeding body bread Briffault cat's cradle ceremony color connected consciousness cooking cosmetikos created culture cycle dark death deity Dogon dressed Dumuzi earth emergence Encyclopedia of Myths Enki Enkidu Ereshkigal external eyes father female flesh flowers fonio Frazer Gilgamesh girl goddess Golden Bough ground Handbook of North Heizer human Ibid idea Inanna Kogi light living lunar male Marija Gimbutas menarchal menstrual blood menstrual cycle menstrual hut menstrual logic menstrual mind menstrual rite menstrual seclusion menstrual taboos metaform metaphor moon mother mythology Myths and Secrets narrative North American Indians Ogotemmêli origin story painted plants r'tu Rainbow Snake ritual sacred number sacrifice seclusion rites separation sexual shape sister Snake spirit strual Sumer Sumerian synchronous taboos temple Tiamat tion touch tradition tree tribal tribes underworld veil vulva washed wilderness woman Woman's Encyclopedia women word