I particularly liked this:
I've worked with Native American ethnographic collections for many years and tribal representatives usually talked about the power of a woman on her moon. We were told by one visitor that women are restricted from certain activities or touching certain things because she has the power of life and it may be something she can't necessarily control. He described it as an energy that bounces so the woman is protected but those around her may not be. A woman past menopause also has a special status and may have priveleges that even other men may not have.
This is true in New Zealand as well within the Maori culture. When a woman is menstruating they are forbidden from harvesting flax. Flax is something that women would use to weave into baskets and decorations. It is a really old tradition in Maori culture, but a woman can not go out to pick the flax from the ground when they are menstruating. It is 'tapu'. Tapu means blessed or cursed depending on the situation... if a woman is menstruating it is 'tapu' for them to work with flax.
ReplyDeleteAlso - in the native american cultures, there used to be a hut that the women would be sent to until they were finished menstruating. It is in a book about Emily Carr that mom gave me. And she would go to visit the women in these hutts.
Also sort of gross, but i remember hearing about a tradition where women would actually use their own blood to paint with, because of the power or life force in it... that sort of witchy stuff though.. ew!