Menstrupedia

“ Am I the Problem??”

I was someone who did care, in fact I should rephrase myself, I am someone who do care about these Menstrual Taboos, but at times when it gets to the point that its stretched a lot, beyond a limit, then its gets on to me, and currently I feel I should get into this mission to abolish all these myths, at least for the Gen Next!!

Being from Mumbai, and a strong devotee of Ganesh ji, my friend was tooo thrilled to do it all for The Elephant God, the Vignahartha(one who vanishes obstacles) and little did she expect her obstacle was on the way. It was not very far when she realized that she had her “female problem”. Eww, yuck gross are the words that run in her mind, if people from the older generation figure out this.. It means she has to stay out from the entire celebration?? It means she has to refrain from making those delicious (shapeless) modaks J, It means she has to stay away from her amazing family who is part of this festival?

Wow, all for what?? What did she do, Just born as a female? Just had to go through this female cycle and bleeding, which eventually turns any female in to the proud woman and the sooper proud mommies???

There is something that most of us are unaware of: In the book Blood, Bread and Roses, by Judy Grahn, she offers fascinating explanations for this...

Menstruating women were considered to be having special powers during menstruation, which if not used properly could cause harm to others. In addition, practical reasons of predatory animals smelling the blood in ancient times and coming for the kill, would have led to these women being kept in separate huts to protect the community. It is believed that during menstruation, women are constantly dissipating energy from their bodies. Most religious chants are meant to balance out the energies in our body. However, this would interfere with the natural losing of energy that must happen in menstruating women to prevent excessive energy build-up. Hence, menstruating women are told to keep away during such occasions, so that their natural processes are not tampered with. The other reason I came across was that menstruating women become open to receiving and absorbing energy during this time. This means, they can easily absorb other’s energies, including negative energies. Hence, they are asked to stay away from crowds and gatherings.

I would definitely make it a point to share these explanations of the rituals and taboos with my daughter and the Gen Next, so that they can appreciate the spirit behind the ancient wisdom, whether or not they chose to follow it. Let us act responsibly about what we tell them!!