Menstruation, Rituals Surrounding

Godlike Powers and Parallels

Some cultures treat menstruation as a revered and worshipped event, such as the Khoisan culture of southern Africa, which considers women at their most powerful while menstruating. By placing women in menstrual huts, the Khoisan culture deems them “inviolable” and capable of “godlike” acts such as sending down bolts of lightning at the snap of a finger upon any disrespecting male. As another example, some cultures routinely encourage men to cut their genitals and allow them to bleed; such bleeding is thought to show respect toward powerful, menstruating women. As women's menstruation perhaps cleanses the body, some cultures also believe that men need similar cleansing through bloodletting.

Some cultures construct menstruation as a punishment from higher powers. In Mayan mythology, menstruation was thought to arise as a punishment for premarital sex. When the Sun God wooed the Moon Goddess, her father the Earth God punished her by having her destroyed. Her “evil blood” of disobedience colored the water of the sea and the lake red and sank into the earth. This menstrual blood then transformed into snakes and insects, thus bringing about disease and poison as well as medicinal plants. From this blood, the Moon was reborn, and human procreation was engendered.

Additionally, other cultures that worship goddesses and nature typically value menstruation as a sacred act, as women's menstrual periods are associated with phases of the moon or with the moon goddess. Indeed, some people around the world [Page 932]nickname menstruation “moontime.” Women's menstrual cycles are thought to derive from cycles of the moon, and as such, become in sync with a partners’ cycles in order to maximize reproductive potential.

Christian Religions

Most Christian religions do not specify any rituals related to menstruation, preferring instead not to discuss it. Some Christian denominations, particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church, advise women not to receive Holy Communion during their menstrual periods, particularly in Greece and Russia. Other denominations follow rules laid out in the Holiness Code, which prohibit sexual relations during menstruation because women are “unclean.” In Islam, the Qur'an forbids sexual intercourse during menstruation but allows physical intimacy. During menses, women need not pray or fast, and they are also not permitted to enter mosques. After the completion of menstruation, women are expected to perform a ghusi, or spiritual bath, to cleanse them so that they may again pray, fast, and enter a mosque. This bath is also expected of both women and men after they have sexual intercourse.

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