Primitive matriarchy
Extracts from Chapter Seven of "Primitive Materialism".
Primitive matriarchal religion. Throughout the period of the upper Palaeolithic, dating from 35,000 to the dawn of the Neolithic at 11,000 and thence into the Neolithic, there persisted the custom of shaping figurines portraying a woman with exaggerated female characteristics. These have been designated Venus figurines. Though the meaning of these artefacts has been disputed a universal “worship” of the Great Mother in pre-historic times has been inferred – an inference supported by the vestiges of primitive beliefs in mythology. The subsequent specialisation of the goddesses in a pantheon obscures their shared common identity. Within the Greek and Roman tradition: Demeter, Hera, Athena, Artemis, Diana, Juno, Jana were all originally goddesses of fertility: “the names of the divinities being identical in substance, though varying in form with the dialect of the tribe which worshipped them.”[1] We shall here call this universal Great Mother, the Goddess.
[1] J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, Chapter XVI. Dianus and Diana.
[1] J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, Chapter XVI. Dianus and Diana.
Questions
1. Is Frazer's thesis correct? Was there a universal religion of the Great Mother?
2. Is the doubt concerning the interpretation of the Venus figurines of the Paleolithic exaggerated?
3. What motives could anthropologists have for questioning the existence of a universal religion of the Goddess?
4. How does the work of Marija Gimbutas (for example, "The Living Goddess") correlate with that of J.G. Frazer?
5. If indeed the religion of the Paleolithic was that of a Goddess, then how did it come about that the patriarchal religion of Christianity was established? What is the moral and religious significance of such a transition from matriarchy to patriarchy?
2. Is the doubt concerning the interpretation of the Venus figurines of the Paleolithic exaggerated?
3. What motives could anthropologists have for questioning the existence of a universal religion of the Goddess?
4. How does the work of Marija Gimbutas (for example, "The Living Goddess") correlate with that of J.G. Frazer?
5. If indeed the religion of the Paleolithic was that of a Goddess, then how did it come about that the patriarchal religion of Christianity was established? What is the moral and religious significance of such a transition from matriarchy to patriarchy?
Extract Two
The central concern of this religion is the production of food, hence, fertility. The religion of the Goddess teems with sexual energy and procreation. It is the religion of sex as a procreative act to produce offspring and to bring about the fertility of nature. It is participative, instrumental, creative and expressive of sex. Frazer cites an example in Java where “husbandman and his wife visit their fields by night and there engage in sexual intercourse for the purpose of promoting the growth of the crop.”[1] This must surely lie at the core of any primitive man’s experience of religious life.
"In the great mysteries solemnized at Eleusis in the month of September the union of the sky-god Zeus with the corn-goddess Demeter appears to have been represented by the union of the hierophant with the priestess of Demeter, who acted the parts of god and goddess. But their intercourse was only dramatic or symbolical, for the hierophant had temporarily deprived himself of his virility by an application of hemlock." [2]
In the matriarchal religion intercourse for the sake of fertility is the primal act of religion. The sexual union of the gods, the hieros gamos, is the sacred symbol of this worship. The god was impersonated by a man, dubbed a king, and the Goddess may have been a woman, or a tree. Often a real woman was married to a god. The Greek heroes whose father is said to be a god: Bellerophon, Dardanus, Dionysos, Epaphus, Heracles, Iasus, Orion, Orpheus, Perseus, Polydeuces, Theseus – all had divine fathers – this indicates that their biological fathers were unknown, and they were sired at the festival of the Goddess – a saturnalia – on a priestess or queen.
[1] J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, , Chapter IX – The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation
[2] Ibid., Chapter XII – The Sacred Marriage.
"In the great mysteries solemnized at Eleusis in the month of September the union of the sky-god Zeus with the corn-goddess Demeter appears to have been represented by the union of the hierophant with the priestess of Demeter, who acted the parts of god and goddess. But their intercourse was only dramatic or symbolical, for the hierophant had temporarily deprived himself of his virility by an application of hemlock." [2]
In the matriarchal religion intercourse for the sake of fertility is the primal act of religion. The sexual union of the gods, the hieros gamos, is the sacred symbol of this worship. The god was impersonated by a man, dubbed a king, and the Goddess may have been a woman, or a tree. Often a real woman was married to a god. The Greek heroes whose father is said to be a god: Bellerophon, Dardanus, Dionysos, Epaphus, Heracles, Iasus, Orion, Orpheus, Perseus, Polydeuces, Theseus – all had divine fathers – this indicates that their biological fathers were unknown, and they were sired at the festival of the Goddess – a saturnalia – on a priestess or queen.
[1] J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, , Chapter IX – The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation
[2] Ibid., Chapter XII – The Sacred Marriage.
Questions
1. Was there a time when sex was regarded as holy, sacred and divine?
2. How did it come about that heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had divine fathers? Can we take seriously the Greek claim that gods could sire children upon mortal women, and if not, how can we account for the rise of such a belief?
2. How did it come about that heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had divine fathers? Can we take seriously the Greek claim that gods could sire children upon mortal women, and if not, how can we account for the rise of such a belief?