Matriarchal religion

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Matriarchal religions are characterized by a feminine world view paradigm. Common traits are female oriented worship/celebration, the worship of a Goddess, fertility rites, positive meanings attributed to sex and body, sacred traits attributed to feminine sexuality and laughter, polytheism.

1 History
2 Symbols
3 Literary refences
4 Societies with Matriarchal religions
5 See also
6 References

[edit] History

It is generally accepted that in Prehistory the religions of the various peoples on Earth were Matriarchal Polytheism.^[1]^[2]

The Bible celebrates the victory of the patriarchal religion, embraced by the Hebrews, over the matriarchal religion, embraced by the Canaanites.

In the 1989 work The Civilization of the Goddess, archeologist Marija Gimbutas articulated the differences between the those civilizazion in the Old European system that, like the Canaanites, worshiped a matriarchal religion, and the Bronze Age Indo-European patriarchal ("androcratic") culture which supplanted it. While the previous peoples were peaceful, the "androcratic", or male-dominated, Kurgan peoples, on the other hand, invaded Europe and imposed upon its natives the hierarchical rule of male warriors. Such differences parallel those found by primatologist Frans de Waal, between Common Chimpanzee (male oriente, prone to violent conflicts) and Bonobos (sexually promiscuous, peaceful), both closest ancestors of humans.

[edit] Symbols

While in patriarchal religions the snake is the symbol of evil, in matriarchal religions the snake means fertility and life.

[edit] Literary refences

In the 1994 theatrical show sesso con Luttazzi, Italian Satirist Daniele Luttazzi performs an anthropological overturn of religion: he plays the typical core of a Catholic mass, but replacing the elevation of the blood of the son with the elevation of the blood of the mother, as a symbol of the religion of the mother.