Ancient Babylonia - Fertility Rites
Magico-religious ceremonies to insure an abundance of food and the birth of
children. The rites, expressed through dances, prayers, incantations, and sacred
dramas, seek to control the otherwise unpredictable forces of nature. In
primitive agricultural societies natural phenomena, such as rainfall, the fecundity
of the earth, and the regeneration of nature were frequently personified. One of
the most important pagan myths was the search of the earth goddess for her
lost (or dead) child or lover (e.g., Isis and Osiris, Ishtar and Tammuz, Demeter
and Persephone). This myth, symbolizing the birth, death, and reappearance of
vegetation, when acted out in a sacred drama, was the fertility rite par
excellence. Other rites concerned with productivity include acts of sympathetic magic,
such as kindling of fires (symbolizing the sun) and scattering the reproductive
organs of animals on the fields, displays of phallic symbols, and ritual
prostitution. In India it was once believed that a fertile marriage would result if
virgins were first deflowered by means of the lingam, a stone phallus
symbolizing the god Shiva. Sacrifices of both humans and animals were believed to
release the powers embodied within them and so make the fields or forests productive
where the sacrifices had taken place. Many ancient fertility rites have
persisted in modified forms into modern times. The Maypole dance derives from spring
rituals glorifying the phallus.
Ancient Babylonia
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