Blood Power: Mimetic Rivalry and Patrilineal Descent of Sacrificial Ritual
PERFORMANCE NOTES
This piece includes three movements. Each movement depicts a mythic or ritual relationship between women’s blood and sacrifice. I have adapted each of these myths/rituals in some of my own words to create a narrative.
In the first story, the sacrifice is not explicit, but has become a part of the ritual that reenacts the myth. The bloodletting that comprises the ritual reenactment does not result in death, but functions as a rite of passage for young boys and functions as a cathartic experience for communities of men, much as a ritual sacrifice is said to bond a community. [1] The ritual reenactment of this creation myth involves men making incisions on their arms and penises to simulate menstruation. The synchronicity of this action is key and is depicted not only in the group aspect of the ritual but in the process of shaking their bodies to spread blood on their own and others adjoining limbs.
The rite of passage involves adult men entering the women’s area, where many generations of women are tending the children and working, snatching the young boys from their mother’s arms and taking them to the men’s camp, where they are covered in their own blood and that of other, elder men as well as red ochre only to be returned to their mother’s gaze, but not to their custody. This ritual takes place not only as a rite of passage, but also as a catalyst for group solidarity, before a hunt, or to bring the rains. [2]
Movement I : A tale of the Wawilak Sisters and the Rainbow Snake
This Aboriginal Australian creation myth is found predominantly in the northern and western regions of the country. There are many variations of this myth. The version you are about to read comes from Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture, by Chris Knight [3] .
The Wawilak Sisters and the Rainbow Snake
At the beginning of time, two sisters were traveling across the landscape giving names to the features of a previously unnamed world. One carried a child; the other was pregnant. They had both committed incest in their own country, the country of the Wawilak.
Ebó is a ritual offering or sacrifice as dictated by divination. Ebó is one of the cornerstones of the Santeria religion, and it is the tool that we have been given by the Orishas to change our fate and return our lives to a balanced and healthy state.
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
This paper will discuss the well published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomerory uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomerory uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses. She then talks about some common roles, the whores, wives, and slaves during this time. Pomerory enlightens the audience on the topic of women, who were seen as nothing at the time. Men were seen as the only crucial part in history; however, Pomerory’s focus on women portrays the era in a new light.
“‘I thought, with modern technology,’ said my sister, ‘I could separate our parents from these large groups. I took these pictures to isolate our parents and then have their individual photographs enlarged…The photo studio tried, but it would not work. As the photographs became larger the individual features of their faces became more blurred. It was as if coming closer they became more indistinct. After a while I stopped. I left them with their group. It seemed the only thing to do’” (240-241). The inability to separate the parents from the group photograph shows how imbedded their family values were in their beings. By removing the rest of their family, they became less themselves. The parents become blurry, ambiguous shapes lacking distinct features that identify them as individuals. Family was an integral part of the parents’ lives. By removing their family, the sister is removing the context through which her parents lived and loved. This also shows clan members being valuable and discernible members of the clan when within its confines, but self-worth lessens the further they are from the clan. Once again, modernity collides with tradition. In this passage, it is the modern technology that the sister wanted to use to separate her parents from the rest of her family. This shows the modern
Often times in literature the body becomes a symbolic part of the story. The body may come to define the character, emphasize a certain motif of the story, or symbolize the author’s or society’s mindset. The representation of the body becomes significant for the story. In the representation of their body in the works of Marie de France’s lais “Lanval” and “Yonec,” the body is represented in opposing views. In “Lanval,” France clearly emphasizes the pure beauty of the body and the power the ideal beauty holds, which Lanval’s Fairy Queen portrays. In France’s “Yonec,” she diverts the reader’s attention from the image of the ideal body and emphasizes a body without a specific form and fluidity between the forms. “Yonec” focuses on a love not based on the body. Although the representations of the body contradict one another, France uses both representation to emphasize the private and, in a way, unearthly nature of love that cannot be contained by the human world. In both lais, the love shared between the protagonists is something that is required to be kept in private and goes beyond a single world into another world.
This essay explores the role of women in Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Derrick Walcott's Omeros (1990), epics written in very different historical periods. Common to all three epics are women as the transforming figure in a man's life, both in the capacity of a harlot and as wife.
Violence against women is not a new social issue and Pamela Copper-Whites’ book The Cry of Tamar does well in bringing this to light not only as a social issue but as a religious issues as well. Tamar’s story sheds light on the violence and degradation of women in the biblical times.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
In considering the relationship between the meanings of myths and their representation of women, we learned that the major role in shaping the narratives was played by men.
When it comes to Rossetti’s Goblin Market, numerous critical approaches are offered. Feminists believed that this was an effort to reconstruct women’s roles and visions, they were also convinced that it had a strong message of hero creation. Not so, argued naturalists because Christina has used wide range of natural elements, and they validated this with her early life in the country and some argued she hinted the infiltration of women into capital market as she talks about trade and market. Some critics also speculated that she has incorporated the classic theme of temptation, fall, and redemption, which is quite obvious because Rossetti was a religious female. Her poem was also castigated for the extensive use of sexual language or perhaps it was just a fairy tale. But, if we deeply dig into the poem and her personal life we can find the hidden epic allegory. A profound analysis of her work will reveal the thematic interpretation of christian belief ...
The ancient Roman tale known as the “Rape (or seizure) of Sabine Women” depicts women, taken against their will by Roman captures and married to Roman men. These women later, intervene in a battle between their new husbands and their angry brothers and fathers. The ancient tale depicts Roman ideology and practices of marriage. It shows how a bride was transferred from living under her father’s jurisdiction to being ruled by her husband. The capture of the Sabine women, the war that follows, and the final truce brought upon the Sabine women themselves are direct relation to the separation of a young bride from her maternal family, the transfer of authority, and her beginning in her new family. The tale is told by two philosophical figures of Roman history. Livy, whom writes about the events in 30 B.C.E and Ovid whom rights about them nearly a generation later1. Both have different views on the event, its meaning, and its relevance. The two men also share the same thoughts in regards to their view masculinity and power.
Archetypal criticism is used in the continuous employment of the extended metaphor of medusa. In the myth, Medusa is generally portrayed as the incarnation of feminism, as the name Medusa is derived from the Greek word metis meaning feminine. Medusa’s hair could be parallel to the chain events of birth and death as snakes constantly shed and regrow skins. Although the hairs of snakes were meant to diminish her craved beauty and femininity, Medusa could have, in fact, become more womanly, because not only does the phallic snake represent the power of birth unique to women, it also epitomizes danger and intelligence implying that women too possess these qualities. In addition, although the protagonist isn’t prepossessing, it doesn’t alter the fact that the woman is still a dominating ...
Dante feels hell is a necessary, painful first step in any man’s spiritual journey, and the path to the blessed after-life awaits anyone who seeks to find it, and through a screen of perseverance, one will find the face of God. Nonetheless, Dante aspires to heaven in an optimistic process, to find salvation in God, despite the merciless torture chamber he has to travel through. As Dante attempts to find God in his life, those sentenced to punishment in hell hinder him from the true path, as the city of hell in Inferno represents the negative consequences of sinful actions and desires. Though the punishments invariably fit the crimes of the sinners and retributive justice reigns, the palpable emphasis of fear and pity that Dante imbues on the transgressors illustrates his human tendency to feel sympathy towards one who is suffering. For example, when Dante approaches the gat...
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” is about two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who are taunted by goblin men to buy luscious fruits. While Lizzie resist the temptation of the goblin men, her sister Laura succumbs (introduction). Laura gets really sick and seems unable to live without the fruit, so in the end we find Lizzie sacrificing herself to get the fruit to save her sister. This story may just seem like a fairytale but it is considered to be one of Christina Rossetti’s most prolific and controversial work. Many critics argue that it is a Christian allegory while others believe because of the suggestive language that the theme is female sexuality. It is undeniable that Christian imagery and allegory are present within this poem, as seen in the description of goblins and their fruit, as well as the role Lizzie plays in the story (Christian references). Together these aspect strengthen the poem making the theme temptation, sacrifice, and redemptions.