|
View the h-pcaaca Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in h-pcaaca's September 1999 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in h-pcaaca's September 1999 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the h-pcaaca home page.
#1 Many polynesian cultures have "mentrual huts" where the women go at that time. The Dogon of Mali come to mind. There is a paper by Bev Stassmann on them in _Current Anthropology_ (Vol 38.1 - 1997 I think) on their cycles. It is important to note that while it is easy for Westerners to think of this as an "exile" the women in these cultures usually like it - for 4 to 7 days they get to spend time with other women, doing little work (and women almost always work more than men in most cultures). So while the usual purpose of such a separation is based on the notion that the women are somehow "unclean" during this period, the women usually tend to view it as a sort of vacation. An interesting extension of the "unclean menstrual blood" notion can be found among the Sambia of New Guinea. The Sambian males firmly believe that women pollute them, that sex with women saps them of power, ect. So "unclean" are women that little boys who are raised by them cannot actually grow into real men without male intervention. After about the age of 8 all boys are taken from their mothers and for the next decade or so perform fallacio on older men to injest the stuff of manhood and thus grow into men. Ah, culture! Matthew Kapell Anthropology University of Michigan-Dearborn <kapellm@umd.umich.edu> --------------------------------------- #2 I think that in some extreme orthodox jewish communities - maybe not now but in the recent past - there were practices like this. Perhaps Moslem too. Famwise@aol.com
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
|