* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Hello My Name is …Deirdre Munro
Reflections of the powerful rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood by a human, a woman, a midwife, a mother, a daughter, I am only me…
‘Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become’.
(John O Donoghue, excerpt from the poem: For Equilibrium, a Blessing).
As a woman and midwife the power of woman is enshrined in physiology, femininity, maternity and self-belief. Individuals can view woman’s journey, her rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood in a neutral acceptance, positive celebration, negative judgement and/or disempowerment. Examples of protonic indigenous culture are recounted from celebrating coming-of-age rites, tattooing, new hairstyles, new clothing to celebrative ceremonies by a full tribe or solitary vision quests.
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Nootka people of Canada partied after a girl’s first period. She then underwent an endurance ritual: taken far out to sea, left to make her way home by swimming back to land. On return was greeted by her entire village, thereafter, recognized as a woman who had demonstrated capacity for patience and perseverance.
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Many Navaho people still practice their puberty ritual for girls, the kinaalda. According to menstrual researcher Lara Owen, this is considered to be the most important of all their rituals because it brings new life to the tribe. A month after a girl gets her first period, her entire extended family gathers together for a ceremony that takes place over four days. Each morning she gets up at sunrise and runs toward the rising sun, running farther and faster each day. An older female relative known as the ‘Ideal Woman’ teaches her the Beauty Way, massages her body and instructs her in tribal wisdom about male-female relationships. Together the girl, her family (including the men) prepare an enormous corn cake. The emphasis of this ritual is on both physical strength and character.
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In Celtic Lore, Fairy Queen Maebh gave Celtic Kings a drink of her ‘red mead’ known as ‘dergflaith’ meaning red ale or sovereignty, or a drink of herself. The Celtic Kings became Gods by drinking this red mead. A male stained with red meant he was chosen by the Goddess as King.
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Indians of South America said in the beginning all mankind was made of ‘moon blood’.
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The bible story of Adam was reported as adapted from an older female creation myth recounting the creation of man from clay and moonblood.
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Greek mystiAs a woman and midwife the power of woman is enshrined in physiology, femininity, maternity and self-belief. Individuals can view woman’s journey, her rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood in a neutral acceptance, positive celebration, negative judgement and/or disempowerment. Examples of protonic indigenous culture are recounted from celebrating coming-of-age rites, tattooing, new hairstyles, new clothing to celebrative ceremonies by a full tribe or solitary vision quests.
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Nootka people of Canada partied after a girl’s first period. She then underwent an endurance ritual: taken far out to sea, left to make her way home by swimming back to land. On return was greeted by her entire village, thereafter, recognized as a woman who had demonstrated capacity for patience and perseverance.
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Many Navaho people still practice their puberty ritual for girls, the kinaalda. According to menstrual researcher Lara Owen, this is considered to be the most important of all their rituals because it brings new life to the tribe. A month after a girl gets her first period, her entire extended family gathers together for a ceremony that takes place over four days. Each morning she gets up at sunrise and runs toward the rising sun, running farther and faster each day. An older female relative known as the ‘Ideal Woman’ teaches her the Beauty Way, massages her body and instructs her in tribal wisdom about male-female relationships. Together the girl, her family (including the men) prepare an enormous corn cake. The emphasis of this ritual is on both physical strength and character.
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In Celtic Lore, Fairy Queen Maebh gave Celtic Kings a drink of her ‘red mead’ known as ‘dergflaith’ meaning red ale or sovereignty, or a drink of herself. The Celtic Kings became Gods by drinking this red mead. A male stained with red meant he was chosen by the Goddess as King.
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Indians of South America said in the beginning all mankind was made of ‘moon blood’.
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cs were ‘born again’ from the river Styx, known as the Alpha or the beginning blood stream of the earths vagina.
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Egyptian Pharaohs became divine by ingesting the ‘blood of Isis’
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The Maori declared something sacred by colouring it red, calling it menstrual blood.
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Rites were often governed by post-menopausal women, known as the wisest people because the permanently retained their “wise blood.”
In stark contrast, modern day reaction to menstruation is reported as ‘a significant cause of gender inequality in low-income countries. Many girls and women on their period are unable to engage fully in their daily activities, like attending school or work, due to poor sanitation, lack of sanitary protection as well as a stigma associated with menstruation. Restriction and a lack of education around such a natural process are key reasons why women are unable to escape the poverty trap. Women use rags, straw, sand, animal skin, newspaper and sometimes cow dung during their menstruation. Such unhygienic protection causes infection, reproductive diseases and adds to social stigma’ (Manjit K Gill, 2016).
Binti is a UK registered charity, founded by Manjit K Gill, with a mission to provide sanitary towels to all girls and women as a basic right, to dispel all myths, taboos and negative perceptions around periods and to improve empowerment and financial independence for women in emerging economies.
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Binti is headquartered in the UK with projects across India and Eastern Africa. Binti is determined to be the organisation that jumpstarted The Sanitary Pad Revolution for women, by women, to women.
Now it is over to you. It is your reflection period. Where are your thoughts on the reflective spectrum of menstruation measured; sacredness, neutrality or shame? Pause and ask your inner core, would you exist on this earth without the flow of menstruation preceding your creation?
By Deirdre Munro, Human, Woman, Midwife, Founder Global Village Network Community
References
Binti http://binti.co.uk/about-binti/ accessed 14th Oct 2016
Northrup, C (2016) Wisdom of the Menstrual Cycle by Dr Christiane Northrup http://www.drnorthrup.com/wisdom-of-menstrual-cycle/ accessed 10th Oct 2016
Walker, B 2016 Excerpt from ‘Women’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secret’ by Barbara Walker http://www.thefountainoflife.org/ accessed 12th Oct 2016
