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Re: Looking for magic
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Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on November 12, 1999 at 03:41:08:
In Reply to: Re: Looking for magic posted by Kenzi on November 12, 1999 at 03:03:58:
The traditional societies tried to make sure a girl will be married right around the time of her first period.... to go longer was considered really bad news. I ve never heard of hennaeing to relieve menstrual pain, but menstruation was extremely threatening to the well-being of the husband, the household and the group at large. The menstruating woman was polluted, and for her to even glance at a man could render him impotant, and kill all the goats. I think this is because djinn were so attracted to her menstrual blood, that she was very dangerous. Her skirts (stained) were really dangerous, her footprints in the sand were dangerous, her glance was dangerous (veil????), her food had to be prepared separately...the list goes on and on. At the end of her period, ritual bathing and hennaeing ended the pollution and she could go back to cooking, cleaning, tending the flocks, taking care of her husband, having sex, all that stuff. (I wonder how many were tempted to have really long periods.....) Most women though, had very few periods during their lifetime what with uninterrupted pregnancy and lactation.
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