Fertility rite

Abstract: Potocka zijavka is one of the most mysterious Palaeolithic cave sites in Europe For the first time it is proposed that in this cave 32-36 thousand years ago fertility rites were performed, worshipping a cave bear as totemic animal Interestingly, we will not find any other archaeological traces in the cave, not even from the youngest historical periods, except of a rock-bowl that was hand-carved with chisel Though there is no reliable information about the origin and meaning of the rock-bowl, another Slovenian cave site offers a very intriguing explanation about an old Slovene faith and fertility rite At least in the Late Middle Ages the fertility rite was abandoned in Potocka zijavka, but the cave itself continued to play an important role in Christian religious thought as a sacred place until the 20th Century The most exciting is the idea about the interplay of three basic elements, important for life: earth, water and sun Thus we can follow the concept of trinity most probably far back into Palaeolithic times

Abstract: A Midsummer Night's Dream written by Shakespeare has been evaluated as the model of romantic comedy as it deals with pairing and marriage of the lovers. This paper intends to survey the forms of fertility rites laid in the work rather than general definition of comedy. Even for a fertility rite, I have tried to focus, not on the meeting of the individual with supernatural being, but on the political and social meaning which comes from healing the abnormal phenomena of contemporary society. In this work, we can find the fruitful process of fertility rite which intends to revive the vitality of Queen Elizabeth who was becoming old at that. time. Shakespeare was not satisfied in creating the mythical meaning by means of fantastic images, for he struggles to suggest the means of healing concerning the contemporary social problems and practical ones of the audience. The spectators can feel catharsis through the erotic images which can release the repression of sexual desire hidden in the depth of their subconsciousness. By doing so, they can enjoy the normalization through the liberation of socially repressed erotic energy. The forest, the symbol of fertility, has been regarded as the origin of life and as the suitable place in which lovers can share their true love. And it can be contrasted with the city like Athens so that it seems to promise rebirth and rest to the people who are tired of repressing civilization. Thus, two couples of lovers, Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demitrius, enter the forest in order to heal the injuries of love distorted by the law and the patriarchy of Athens. This forest is governed not by human-beings, but by the king and the queen of fairies, Oberon and Titania. Oberon, the chief of the fertility rite, uses the juice of love for healing the erotic disease of the lovers. The chaotic process of 'chase and being chased' should be interpreted as the metaphor for passionate erotic ceremonies of the lovers. The sexual behaviors of Titania and Bottom and the chaos of the lovers should be the erotic game which embodies the fertility rite in the forest. It can be said that the one appears by means of a dream scene and the other through physical conflicts in transformed forms. The play within the play, Pyramus and Thisbe, may bewilder the audience owing to the interpolation of tragedy into comedy of the main plot. However, we can find Shakespeare's true intention why tragic plot should be contrasted with romantic comedy. The lovers' tragedy in the play within the play strengthens the festivity of the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta and two couples of lovers rather than weakens the comic spirit by showing the danger of the reality. Even this tragedy changes into comedy through the exaggeration and the buffoonery of Quince's group. In conclusion, the play in the play can be interpreted as a process of fertility that helps and strengthens the fertility rite of the main plot.

Abstract: Ovid (Fast. V 493-544) narrates the birth of Orion in according to a particular version that goes back at least to Euphorion of Chalcis. This version is incompatible with the archaic conception of Orion’s birth in epics. The article discusses the story from Ovid’s text and from the scholium of the Iliad which contains Euphorion’s version. From a structural perspective, the story contains ritual motifs that may relate to a fertility rite attested in a Hittite text, the so-called Paskuwatti’s ritual against sexual impotence (CTH 406). The cultic substratum shared by both, European and Asiatic, Aegean banks, suggests the survival of certain features of ritual origin transfigured into some of the mythemes of the story discussed.